Paratriathlon made its Paralympic debut at the Rio Games in 2016, with the British team winning a whopping four medals. British Triathlon are looking to build on that success at the Tokyo 2020 Games, and to do this are looking to find new and exciting Paralympic talent.
The Tri4Tokyo Talent Identification programme is on the hunt for athletes who will be able to challenge the best in Britain and, in time, the best in the World. Paratriathlon is a dynamic and demanding sport, with the successful athletes needing to be dedicated and hard working.
British Triathlon launched the Tri4Tokyo programme with an event in February this year and the athletes we discovered then are already having a significant impact on a British and World stage. Nine athletes who came through that programme are now part of the British Triathlon Paratriathlon Talent programme, with two of those competing successfully at last week’s World Paratriathlon Championships.
One of those athletes was Jade Jones, who had a background in wheelchair racing but no experience in handcycling or swimming. Since attending the Tri4Tokyo event she has now become European Champion and on Friday (15 September) gained a superb silver medal at the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships in the PTWC category.
The second athlete to join us in February was Fran Brown, whose main competitive sport background was in Rock Climbing, but she had some experience across swim, bike and run. She has developed herself across all three disciplines, taking a silver at the European Championships in the PTS2 category and then going on to take bronze in last week’s ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, beating the American athlete who took silver at last year’s Paralympic Games and finishing within seconds of the Paralympic Champion.
We have also worked with athletes who we know will take longer to develop towards medal winning performances, but where we see future potential we will always try to support this and develop each athlete’s potential. Steve Crowley attended a Talent ID event in March 2014 and has gradually developed his performance across all three disciplines. He got his first taste of international competition last year after making steady progress. However this year his performance level has accelerated this and he is now the holder of silver medals from the ETU European and ITU World Championships in the PTS4 category.
The majority of the paratriathletes on the UK Sport Lottery Funded World-Class Performance Programme squad have come through Talent ID events similar to this in the past. Our programme will look to test your potential across swim, bike and run. We do not expect athletes to be the finished article in any of the three disciplines, but we will be looking for potential and an aptitude to learn and develop in each attendee. Each athlete will also be classified as part of the process.
If you are already competing in triathlon or paratriathlon or are competing in another sport and want to try out paratriathlon the Tri4Tokyo application form can be found here.
To find out a little more on the selection process please see click here or contact Alasdair Donaldson, Paralympic Talent & Development Manager
To find out more about paratriathlon please click here where you can find out about all aspects of the sport, from getting involved to National events and classification.
