With no fewer than four Para Series events, 8 Para Cups, World Championships Pontevedra and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Qualification Period opening on 1 July, it was a huge 2023 on the blue carpet for the world’s para triathletes, with new faces looking to mix it with the more established names as a huge 2024 pulled into view.
The USA dominated the Series podiums with 36 medals including 12 golds, but no fewer than 18 nations won at least one WTPS medal in 2023. When it came to Para Cups, the number of nations to medal was 31, France topping the list with 60 in all including 22 golds.
When it came to the World Championships in Pontevedra, eight nations shared the titles, France and USA with three apiece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Great Britain and Netherlands all taking home one gold on an outstanding day of racing back in September.
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POWERHOUSES IN PONTEVEDRA
The round up starts in September and the north-west of Spain, where the Para World Championships got the elite racing at the Championship Finals Pontevedra underway in grand style on a tough course.
Britain’s Dave Ellis B3 scored a sixth world title in the men’s visually impaired category, while there was a career-first for Italy’s Francesca Tarantello B3 in the women’s race, as she beat local hero Susana Rodriguez B1. There was another surprise as Geert Schipper H2 took advantage of a Jetze Plat H2 puncture to win a first men’s PTWC title, Lauren Parker H1 defeating Tokyo 2020 rival Kendall Gretsch H2 in the women’s race to earn a fourth straight title.
Victory for France’s Jules Ribstein showed why he will be among the favourites for PTS2 gold at a home Games in Paris, likewise the irrepressible Hailey Danz (USA) and the hugely experienced Daniel Molina (ESP), who showed his familiar run speed to win a fifth PTS3 title, Elise Marc (FRA) winning the women’s title.
Unbeaten in 23 races, yet another PTS4 title for Alexis Hanquinquant extended a win streak he will want to continue all the way to Paris and beyond, the mighty Kelly Elmlinger winning her second title for USA, teammate Grace Norman likewise in an impressive women’s PTS5 win with Martin Schulz reclaiming the men’s title.
PARA RELAY RETURNS
With a view to the format’s future Paralympic inclusion, only the second ever Para Mixed Relay wrapped up the Pontevedra action, with six nation teams - USA (2), France, Brazil, Australia and Spain - and two world teams that also included athletes from Mexico and Japan, all taking to the start line. It was to be the USA Team I who triumphed, the combined talents of Kendall Gretsch, Grace Norman, Kyle Coon and Carson Clough bringing home the gold.
CURTAIN GOES UP ON 2023 IN ABU DHABI & DEVONPORT
But back in March it was the Para Cup Abu Dhabi that got the season underway, before things really heated up at the first Series event of the year, WTPS Devonport, Australia. It was no surprise to see the likes of local legends David Bryant, Lauren Parker, Nic Beveridge H1 and Sally Pilbeam making the most of a domestic race and taking home medals. Howie Sanborn H1 and Mohamed Lahna of the USA also scored excellent results, along with Japan’s Yukako Hata who took her fourth straight win in the city.
BACK TO JAPAN
Onto WTPS Yokohama, Parker continued her huge win streak since that dramatic sprint finish in Tokyo, finishing a minute ahead of the Gretsch. USA’s rising PTVI talent Owen Cravens B3, still only 20 years old, earned a first WTPS gold of his career, and home favourite Jumpei Kimura H1 finally won his first WTPS gold and what better place to do so than on the streets of Yokohama.
Following on from the firmly established Para Cups of Besancon and A Coruna – the latter kicking off the Paralympic Qualification Period with stacked fields - the Series moved on to WTPS Montreal where a second Series gold for Howie Sanborn, a first for the 2017 World Champion Maurits Morsink (NED) and silver to his PTS3 compatriot Nico Van Der Burgt were among the standout performances.
Irish star Chloe Maccombe B3 also stepped on her first WTPS podium, adding a silver medal to the one she earned at the Commonwealth Games, while the men’s race saw the return to the WTPS podium of Spain’s Paralympic silver medallist Hector Catala Laparra and USA’s fresh talent Carson Clough made it three silvers in three in the PTS4.
NEW VENUES AND FORMAT CHANGES
A first Para Cup stop in Long Beach, California in mid-July saw Canada’s PTVI star Jessica Tuomela B1 and Austria’s PTWC athlete Florian Brungraber H2 back among the golds, then it was on to WTPS Swansea, where huge storms and strong winds forced the race to be switched to an aquathlon format for safety reasons.
Mona Francis (FRA) kept her cool to win the women’s PTWC gold, Allysa Seely the PTS2 gold and fellow American Emma Meyers – at just 17-years-old – brushed off the tricky conditions to win her first WTPS gold in the PTS4 ahead of GB’s returning Hannah Moore.
There was a change in format at the Para Cup Paris, too, where irregularities in the water test results meant a duathlon was necessary, the athletes still able to get a good look at next September’s Paralympic course. Familiar names topped the podiums including Dave Ellis, Alexis Hanquinquant, Jetze Plat, Grace Norman and Lauren Parker all firing out warning shots to their Paris 2024 rivals.
Following on from Pontevdra, the Para Cup circuit came to a close with Portugal’s stunning Alhandra, Malaga – as a preview of the 2024 World Championship course in Spain, and the Italian city of Taranto, where the likes of French trio Paul Lloveras B2 (PTVI), Heloise Courvoisier B3 (PTVI) and Thibault Reby (PTS5), GB’s Henry Urand (PTS3) and home favourite Giuseppe Romele H1 (PTWC) were among the golden winners helping their push to Paris.
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