The countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games has begun as today (Sunday 25 August) marks one year to go until paratriathletes take to the world’s biggest stage to challenge for medals.
Having hosted the second-ever Paralympic Games in 1964, Tokyo will once again play host to 22 sports, 540 events and over 4,000 athletes expected to compete in Japan.
With Great Britain winning a total of 147 medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, four of them were won in paratriathlon where Andrew Lewis took gold in the men’s PTS2 classification, Lauren Steadman won silver in the women’s PTS4 category and in the women’s PTS5 race, Alison Peasgood B2 (guide – Hazel Smith) secured silver with Melissa Reid B3 (guide – Nicole Walters) winning bronze.
Paratriathlon will make its second appearance at the Paralympic Games having made its debut at Rio 2016 with the racing to take place on 29/30 August 2020 at the Odaiba Marine Park where eight medal events will be contested:
PTWC – men and women
PTS2 – women
PTS4 – men
PTS5 – men and women
PTVI – men and women
The paratriathlon races will be held over a sprint distance, half the length of the Olympic distance, where athletes will swim 750m, cycle 20km before taking on a 5km run.
In preparation for next year’s Games, the Tokyo ITU Paratriathlon World Cup/Test Event was held on 17 August 2019. The British team won seven medals including gold for Joseph Townsend (PTWC), Lauren Steadman (PTS5) and Dave Ellis (PTVI) alongside his guide Tim Don. Read the full report by clicking here.
Jonathon Riall, Paratriathlon Head Coach at British Triathlon said: “We are already counting down the days to the Paralympic Games and are all excited to see what Tokyo has in store.
“The Paralympic Games is the pinnacle of our sport and our athletes are working hard to ensure that they hit the qualifying criteria for Tokyo. It’s exciting that this is the second time that Paratriathlon has been included in a Paralympic Games and I know that the sport will continue to go from strength-to-strength.”
