Claire Cashmore is reveling in the opportunity to compete at the World Triathlon Para Series in Swansea for the second year running.

It’s a chance for the five-time Paralympian to retain her title in the PTS5 category and pick up valuable points on the road to the Paris 2024 Paralympics. The standalone paratriathlon boasts three races for elite athletes, developing competitors and first-time participants. And the 35-year-old believes the event - which debuted in 2022 and heads up Disability Sport Wales’ Para Sport Festival - can build upon last year’s successful foundations.

“Having a world series on home soil is pretty fantastic,” she said. “You can’t beat your family and your friends coming to watch and having that home crowd makes such a difference to your performance.

“Last year Swansea was shown in its true glory, especially after the reality of family not being able to come and watch in Tokyo.

“It made it even sweeter that they could actually be there on the finish line, particularly my nephews who have never seen me race before.”

Cashmore - who sits on the board for the event - hopes this year will provide a huge boost to participation across the sport at all levels.

She said: “As it was a standalone event, we did a really good job for the first year and it was great to see it all come to fruition.

“I can’t wait for it to be even bigger and better this year, to get more of a crowd and more para-athletes involved.

“From an elite perspective, it being in the qualification window for the Paralympics next year, it should be a good field and a really exciting race.”

“That’s the beauty of it because there’s an opportunity for anyone to race while they’re also able to see the elite athletes competing and hopefully find some inspiration within that.”

She will head to South Wales full of confidence after a hard-fought victory at the European Championships in Madrid.

“It was great to blow out the cobwebs at the Europeans and almost put a benchmark down at the starting point.

“But Madrid being a duathlon was very different, it’s not what we train for so it will be good to get a triathlon under the belt.

“Swansea will be quite a different ball game. It will be great to see where everyone is at going into the year before Paris which is pretty mental.”

Developing athletes will compete in the Paratri Super Series as first-time participants enjoy the Splash & Dash Disability Aquathlon. And trailblazer Cashmore is eager for Swansea to create a legacy for the sport in partnership with the Everyone Starts Somewhere campaign.

She said: “We definitely need to get more female participants involved because it’s such an amazing sport.

“Triathlon across the board is great because you’ll have events where you’ll get a 90-year-old competing against a 12-year-old and the elites that have been to the Olympics.

“I just really like that everybody is in that one arena and competing at the same event because it makes it much more accessible and a real community.

“For Swansea and British Triathlon to take this onboard, it shows their passion for para sport and their passion to raise the profile of paratriathlon.”

Cashmore will be joined on the start line in the PTS5 category by compatriot and Paralympic champion Lauren Steadman, as well as American rival Grace Norman, a two-time Paralympic medallist. With start lists now released for the event, multiple world and European champion Dave Ellis is confirmed to defend his Swansea title in the PTVI category, joined by Oscar Kelly. The fields are stacked across 12 categories with Melissa Nicholls going for gold in the PTWC Women event and Joshua Landmann and Bret Crossley aiming high on the men's side.

To learn more about 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea click here.

Images by KSport Media.