Paratriathlon made its Paralympic debut at the Rio Games in 2016, with the British Team winning four medals. It is a dynamic and demanding sport with the successful athletes being dedicated and hard working. We are looking to build on our successes and are looking to extend our search further than ever before as we look to identify athletes who might have the opportunity to be successful at the Tokyo 2020 Games and beyond.
We have put together the Tri4Tokyo Talent Identification programme to look for athletes who will be able to challenge the best in Britain and, in time, the best in the World. Our next event is taking place on 28th and 29th April at Loughborough University.
We started the Tri4Tokyo programme with two events in 2017 and a number of athletes we discovered then are already having a significant impact on a British and World stage. The examples of two athletes who came through the first of last year’s events were Jade Jones and Fran Brown.
Jade Jones 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 World Championship silver medallist in the PTWC category. In April she will compete in both the paratriathlon and the marathon for England at the Commonwealth Games.
Fran Brown’s 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, first of all taking a silver at the European Championships in the PTS2 category and then going on to take bronze in the World Championships. She goes into the 2018 season with a full year behind her and looking better than ever.
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 in 2016 after making steady progress. However, 2017 saw his performance level accelerate and he is now the holder of silver medals from the European and World Championships in the PTS4 category.
The majority of the athletes in the British Paratriathlon Performance 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 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 and would like to try to take the step up to follow in the footsteps of the athletes above or if you are competing in another sport and want to try out paratriathlon then please contact Alasdair Donaldson for an application form to attend this Talent Squad Selection event.
To find out more about paratriathlon please visit our section of the website Here, where you can find out about all aspects of the sport, from Getting Involved to Performance to National Events and Classification. The Talent Squad coaches will assess all applications and then select the athletes they feel have the best opportunity to progress on to one of the talent squads. To find out a little more please see Click Here
