Dave Ellis is now a six-time world champion but already attention is turning to winning Paralympic gold in Paris.
The paratriathlete claimed his sixth world title alongside guide Luke Pollard (who has now won three) in the men’s PTVI category at the World Triathlon Para Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
That followed a win in the Paris Test Event in August when the race was competed as a duathlon because of discrepancies in the water testing results in the Seine.
While the duo has not officially qualified for the Paralympics, their performance at the Worlds clinched a quota spot for ParalympicsGB, with Ellis delighted to have lived up to his own high expectations.
He said: “It’s special to get the sixth world title. I feel like you put a bit of pressure on yourself. You try not to, but you always do. Even last year, it was the same. You feel a bit more nervous before the start line.
“There is expectation, but I try to focus on the performance on the day and not worry about the outcome too much. Hopefully it will take care of itself.”
Now the plan is to add Paralympic success to their global domination, with the pair having recorded a DNF in Tokyo just over two years ago because of a mechanical issue.
They have learned from that experience, while one key factor over the next year ahead of Paris will be to ensure they are ready for the unique challenge of swimming in a river and dealing with the currents.
Ellis added: “It was good to be in Europe and good to have a different sort of course. It was a river swim which is quite a hot topic with Paris coming up next year, it’s a bit different.
“It’s going to be a challenge to get used to a river swim. I’ve only really swum in a river like that once, and that was in the familiarisation the day before [the Paris Test Event]. It’s something to work on, we’ve got a year to work on it.
“We still haven’t qualified for Paris, we’ve qualified a spot for ParalympicsGB, we still need to be selected. It will be an actual Paralympics this time, compared to last time which was a very strange experience with Covid all around. So, there is so much to look forward to with a real Paralympic Games.
“Some of the bike stuff (in Tokyo), it was a tandem we had not raced that often. Now we’ve raced on it for four years nearly. So, we’ll learn that lesson. A lot of the other stuff, it’s just quite different and separate to the rest of the Paralympics. It will be such a different all-round competition.”
