PTS5 competitor Claire Cashmore is heading to Paris for the Paralympic Test Event on Saturday as she prepares for next summer’s Games.

The Brit is looking to learn as much as possible about the course to help her improve on the bronze medal she secured in Tokyo just two years ago.

She said: “I think the Test Event is special. It’s an opportunity to go out there and really suss out everything.

“It’s not very often you do a course, and you go back and do it again, so being able to go there and absorb everything and take everything in this time.

“Being able to test everything out particularly as it’s quite a different course for us, we’ve never ridden cobbles, we’ve never really swam in a river, up and down stream. It’ll be really good to find out all those nuggets of information and use them going forward to be best prepared for next year. “

The eight-time Paralympic swimming medallist has been in fine form so far in 2023 and won both 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup A Coruna and 2023 Europe Triathlon Championships Madrid, as well as securing a silver medal at 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea behind American Grace Norman, who she’ll be racing again in Paris.

“This season has been quite interesting, there’s been quite a few styles of racing,” she said. “I’ve done an aquathlon that I’ve never done before, I’ve done a duathlon. I have done one triathlon and I am looking forward to hopefully doing another triathlon in Paris.

“I am feeling good, I am feeling pretty confident. This has been the ‘A race’ of the season, this is the one we’ve been putting all our focus on. I’m looking forward to actually going there and seeing where I’m at and in particular Grace, who is my main competitor, she’ll be there, so to race her in a triathlon will be really exciting.”

With this week’s race setting the scene for the main event next summer, Cashmore is already looking forward to 2024 and the potential support she’ll have on the streets of the French capital.

She explained: “The French love sport. They’re going to put on an amazing show.

“It will almost feel like a ‘mini home Games’, with lots of friends and family being able to come over and watch it’s super special, especially after Tokyo with no friends and family being able to be there.”

Cashmore is racing on Saturday 19 August with the action getting underway from 7:20 live on Triathlon Live. View the full PTS5 women’s start list here.