On Sept. 16, at the ITU World Cup in Beijing, Shoemaker finished with a stellar time of one hour, 49 minutes and 44 seconds, good enough for eleventh overall. Even more important is the fact that Shoemaker's time was first among Americans, which earned him the opportunity to join the American team at the Beijing Olympics.
In terms of his strategy in that particular race, Shoemaker said that he knew he had a legitimate shot at the lone automatic bid to the Olympic squad during his strongest portion of the race, the run.
"There were six Americans in that race so the chances of getting the automatic bid is pretty slim, one out of six," Shoemaker said. "But I knew that I had a shot at outrunning all of them, and I tried to not let myself fall apart before the run and stick with them. Crossing the finish line, the feeling that I had was absolutely awesome."
Before he became a professional triathlete, Shoemaker was a standout runner on the Big Green cross-country and track teams. During his junior campaign, Shoemaker won the Heptagonal meet, covering the 8k in 24:36. In outdoor track, Shoemaker's most notable accomplishment is finishing 12th at the NCAA regional meet in the 5k.
For Shoemaker, his decision to take up the triathlon was influenced by his desire to continue his involvement in athletics after college.
"I knew that I had a long ways to go as a runner, so I thought I'd give the triathlon a shot, and I ended up being pretty good at it so I took it up," Shoemaker said.
Pretty good is an understatement; it did not take Shoemaker long to make a splash in his sport. Just around a year after turning pro, he won the U-23 world championships, which would prove a sign of things to come.
It was a natural decision for Shoemaker to become a professional athlete; his family is full of avid athletes. His uncle and sister are both Ironman competitors.
Shoemaker originally had plans to get his graduate degree in secondary education at Boston College, but those plans will have to wait for now since he is busy preparing for the Olympics.
When he isn't raining, Shoemaker currently resides in the suburbs of Boston, where he grew up.
"I do some coaching on the side," Shoemaker said, as he watched his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, on television. "During the winter, I'm an assistant coach for the swim team at my old high school, Lincoln-Sudbury. I've been traveling a lot, though. I went to Australia for a month in the winter and then went to Korea for two weeks, so it's hard to have a job along with doing triathlons.
For future races, Shoemaker hopes to improve upon his swimming skills. Although swimming covers less distance than the other two disciplines in the triathlon, cycling and running, getting a good start in swimming is essential to having a successful race.
"I'm working very hard right now to improve my swim. If you're not in front during the swim, it's difficult to have a good race unless you are ahead in the race, because during the cycling stage you're only as good as the guys around you in the pack."
Shoemaker's commitment to swimming is evident in the fact that he swims 20,000 yards each week.
Looking ahead to Beijing, Shoemaker has set his sights set high.
"The last two times I've raced on that course, I've improved from finishing in fifteenth to finishing eleventh," Shoemaker said. "If things go well I think I can be up there with the world's best.
"Right now, I'm at the stage where I'm taking a step back in order to get better," he said. "I want to get on the podium at the Olympics."
