Four competitors. One ticket to Athens. One Olympic dream fulfilled, three others dashed. Jill Savege and Carol Montgomery already make up two-thirds of the Canadian women's triathlon team that will chase gold in next month's Summer Olympics. Defending champion Simon Whitfield and Brent McMahon are the dynamic duo that compromises the men's contingent.

The fourth and final women's spot will be filled today at the Edmonton stop on the ITU World Cup tour. Whoever crosses the line first among Sharon Donnelly, Lauren Groves, Natasha Filliol and Samantha McGlone gets the trip to Greece. The other three are left to watch the Games on TV.

"It's going to be a close race," said Groves. "We're all close in ability. Last year we all beat each other and we all got beaten. We've all done the work. It'll come down to the mental side of things - who wants it the most."

Groves is the young gun of the bunch - just 22 and with only three years of triathlon experience. But she's quickly making a name for herself. She earned her Olympic standard time last month with a 10th-place finish in Korea and had a pair of top-10 placings on the World Cup tour last year.

Groves, currently 67th in the ITU world rankings, just might be four years ahead of her time.

"It wasn't even a goal of mine a year ago aiming for Athens," said the Vancouver native whose promise landed her a spot under the tutelage of Whitfield's renown coach, Lance Watson.

"I'm just thrilled to be in this position."

So, too, is Sharon Donnelly, who comtemplated packing it in this past winter, but decided to take one more "kick at the cat."

Donnelly is closing in on her 37th birthday and regarded as the trailblazer for the likes of Groves, Filliol and McGlone, but her best shot at Olympic glory may have crashed with her at the Summer Games of 2000.

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE

That mishap, though, doesn't play into Donnelly's last-ditch bid.

"I had a wonderful experience in Sydney and that's part of racing," said 32nd-ranked Donnelly, who won Pan Am Games gold in 1999 and finished 15th on the Hawrelak Park course two years ago.

"It's the experience of being on the team and representing Canada. It's not about making up for anything."

Back luck felled Donnelly in Australia and it's something that could take any one of the four out of today's derby, costing them that ticket to the Olympics.

"There's always an element of luck in this type of racing. It's always a roll of the dice and you never know what you might get," said 18th-ranked Filliol, a painstaking planner for all of her races, which included a trip to Edmonton a few weeks back to map out her strategy.

"I take confidence in my preparation and knowing that I am ready. I know I've done all my preparation work and I know that I'm ready."

With everything on the line in one race, the pressure can be crushing. The secret for the four is not to be solely focused on who is right over their shoulder.

"You just try to do everything absolutely right," said McGlone, which is simple for the 29th-ranked Montrealer.

"You don't hang out with anyone with a cold," she added after recalling last year's race here. McGlone was forced out after the two swim laps ,still struggling with the effects of a flu bug.

"When you go to the race site it's business as usual. You try to look at it as any other race but of course there's extra pressure.

''You just go through the process of the race and afterwards you look at the outcome. If you worry about the outcome during the race, you're going to get too caught up in that."

GLAD TO BE ON TEAM

Savege, who sits fourth in the world rankings, is just glad she's already on the team and not fighting it out on the last possible day for one final spot. A hip and back problem has limited her schedule on the World Cup loop this season, but now healthy, she's using this race as one of the final tuneups for Athens where she finished fourth in a pre-Olympic test race.

All four of the hopefuls suggested the final qualifier would be the one who has everything going for them on the day. As for who is likely to join her and Montgomery on the grand journey, Savege isn't plunking down a bet on anyone in particular.

"It'll be a great race to watch. We'll have to make sure we don't watch too much while we're racing," laughed Savege.

"I like them all. They're all such hard workers and such great competitors that it's sad to see that three of them won't make the team.

''Every one of them deserves the chance. They all have their strengths so it really depends on how the race plays out strategy-wise. It's wide-open so that's what will make it really exciting."