Great Britain had thirteen athletes preparing to travel to the Paralympic Games in September and eleven of them made the trip to Rotterdam, Netherlands for the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships on 24 July.
Lauren Steadman approached the championships unbeaten for more than two years but had a new challenger in USA’s Grace Norman, who fell short of the 2015 title after Steadman held firm.
Great Britain possessed a number of newly crowned European champions, with Alison Peasgood (PT5), Andy Lewis (PT2), Lizzie Tench (PT1) and Lauren Steadman (PT4) after taking the titles at the Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships two months prior.
Whilst much of the weekend’s action was framed through the lens of the upcoming Paralympic Games, Head Coach, Jonathon Riall explained how the British team also featured a number of athletes hoping to make their mark in the future, saying: “We see this as an opportunity to kick start our 2020 cycle by integrating a new and exciting group of athletes to the upper level of the British squad and international competition.”
Above: Joe Townsend, 2016 PT1 European bronze medallist. - Credit: Janos M. Schmidt
A competitive field in the PT1 race saw Joe Townsend and Phil Hogg achieve 5th and 6th place finishes respectively. Townsend, who took bronze at the European championships, recorded the second fastest time across the final discipline (00:12:02).
Lizzie Tench (PT1) reached the podium at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago in the previous year, taking bronze. Tench attended the World Championships after success in Lisbon saw her crowned European champion and this only paved the way for further success as she crossed the line in 01:23:42 to claim 2nd place in PT1.
Andy Lewis was another athlete that travelled to the World Championships after a successful European campaign saw him take the title. Lewis continued a phenomenal season by earning his first ever world title in the PT2 category. Lewis put down a dominant performance in which he battled with Mark Barr (USA) throughout the race.
Lewis entered the first transition thirty seconds behind the American but pushed hard throughout the bike leg and created even more distance on the run to take the tape by over two minutes. Ryan Taylor also put on a strong display for Great Britain, recording the fastest run of the afternoon (00:19:20) and finishing in 5th.
Above: Andy Lewis, 2016 PT2 world and European champion. - Credit: Janos M. Schmidt
George Peasgood and Steven Crowley both raced in the PT4 category. Peasgood, the second youngest athlete in the field by some years recorded an impressive swim time of 00:10:06, the second fastest on the day. Unfortunately, both athletes struggled in the final discipline, resulting in George Peasgood finishing 12th and Crowley, 14th.
Emerging from the water in first place, Lauren Steadman pushed hard in the PT4 race and was followed by Grace Norman and Kerry Large, who came out of the swim less than a minute behind Steadman.
Unfortunately, Steadman crashed out on the bike leg and both Large and Faye McClelland, who started strong, fell behind. They did however push back during the final discipline, resulting in a 5th place finish for Large and 8th place for McClelland.
The PT5 race was set up to be an exciting one for British women and both Alison Peasgood and Melissa Reid didn’t disappoint. Peasgood was crowned world champion in her first year in paratriathlon (2014) and in 2015, missed out on the title by just half a minute. Peasgood wasn’t going to let that happen again and dominated the swim alongside compatriot, Melissa Reid, who recorded the fastest swim on the field (00:11:45).
However, both athletes lost time on the bike leg and would need push hard on the run to guarantee a place on the podium in such a competitive field. Both did just that, with Peasgood recording the only run of the race to be completed in under twenty minutes and Reid finishing not long after.
Peasgood and her guide, Hazel Smith took the title of world champion, whilst Melissa Reid, guided by Nicole Walters secured a well-earned bronze medal behind Joleen Hakker (NED).
Above: 2016 Rotterdam ITU Paratriathlon World Championships Highlights.
Great Britain also secured medals in the open paratriathlon races, with Bret Crossley taking the tape in PT1, followed by compatriot Mark Conway and Chris Frost finishing ahead of Joe Kurt (LUX) to take home the silver medal in the PT4 category.
Head coach, Jonathon Riall, summarised by saying: “It was a great race from Andy, and a really solid performance by Alison and Hazel. We should take the time to celebrate two new world champions and some good progress made, but we are not going to read too much into these results, the course is very different to Rio.”
With the sport just a month away from debuting at the Paralympic Games, this World Championships became a shining example of the rising standards across the sport. As athletes searched for their opportunity to secure a medal at the first Paralympic swim, bike and run on Copacabana Beach.
