Saturday 23 September will see eight British paratriathletes compete for world championship success in Pontevedra, with Dave Ellis and his guide Luke Pollard setting out to defend their 2022 crown.
The World Triathlon Para Championships get underway at 08:00 BST (09:00 local time) on Saturday, with the different classifications getting underway at various start times throughout the morning and shown on TriathlonLIVE with race updates on British Triathlon social media channels.
Ellis and Pollard will race in the men’s PTVI category. The duo took silver at the European Championships in June, which was changed to a duathlon at late notice, before returning to winning ways in A Coruna, Swansea, and at the Paris Paralympic Games Test Event in August.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Josh Landmann who, despite having raced at the top of the sport for a number of years, will be making his world championship debut in Pontevedra. Landmann secured a bronze medal at the Para Cup race in A Coruna earlier this season.
In the men’s PTS4 race, Great Britain will be represented by Finley Jakes who raced to seventh in 2022 and has secured top-ten finishes at World Triathlon Para Series races in Montreal and Swansea this year as well as at June’s European Championships.
Having podiumed at the European Championships and Para Cup in Long Beach, Michael Salisbury (Men’s PTS5) will be looking to continue a strong season in Spain this weekend. The Brit, who is only racing in his third international season finished eighth in 2022 when Abu Dhabi hosted the world championships.
Mel Nicholls (Women’s PTWC) is similarly a relative newcomer to the sport having only raced internationally for the first time in 2022. That hasn’t stopped her making her mark at the business end of the results having finished fifth at her first world championships in 2022 and two silver and a bronze medal so far this season.
Two-time world champion, Hannah Moore (Women’s PTS4), is back on a world championship start line for the first time since 2019 when she took the crown. This season has seen her take gold at World Triathlon Para Cup A Coruna, Para Series silver at World Triathlon Para Series Swansea, and bronze at Europe Triathlon Championships Madrid.
The Women’s PTS5 race will see two Brits line up as Claire Cashmore and Lauren Steadman pull on the GB trisuit. Cashmore, who is world champion from 2019 and 2021, finished second in 2022 and took European Championship gold earlier this season. Tokyo 2020 champion Steadman will be looking to add to her three world championship golds, the most recent of which came in 2018, and three podium finishes this year.
World Triathlon Para Championships Pontevedra will see the athletes compete over a single lap 750m swim, four-lap 19.6km bike, and 5km run across three laps.
The Lerez River will host the swim, before the roads and paths of Pontevedra host the bike and run legs of the race, with the riverside area a key focus of the course as well as the location of transition.
Centro Galego de Tecnificacion Deportiva is where the finish line will be located as well as the venue for the medal ceremonies following the conclusion of the paratriathlon racing.
This weekend will also host the U23 World Championships, final race of the World Triathlon Championship Series and Age-Group World Championships for aquabike, super sprint and standard distance triathlon.
