Following an operation to amputate his lower left leg, Michael Taylor attended a paratriathlon talent identification day in 2017 and, four years later, is set to compete in the PTS4 paratriathlon race at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Becky Hewitt, Paralympic Talent Coach at British Triathlon, has worked with Taylor during his time in the sport and has first-hand insight of his journey into the sport and reaching the Paralympic Games.
“Off the back of Rio we had two years’ worth of a Tri4Tokyo campaign which was trying to promote athletes to come to talent ID events, either with the aim of finding athletes to compete in Tokyo or more realistically Paris,” said Hewitt.
“Realistically, when Michael came, it was much more Paris he was looking at. When he came to us he didn’t do triathlon already, it was a new sport for him when he started. He was really enthusiastic about triathlon, was pretty new to running and had swum a lot pre-injury and had ridden a bike.”
Being able to compete in all three sports is a challenge, but combining them into one is even greater, especially when adapting to taking part after his injury.
“When he did his first triathlon I think he’d only just got his running blade and found running the trickiest one to pick up out of the three,” Hewitt commented.
“I think a few of his family members had done triathlons which is why he applied for the talent ID day but didn’t necessarily expect it to go as well as it did.
“To be honest in the first couple of years of being on the talent pathway, he definitely progressed and developed but probably in 2018 and maybe 2019 we thought he was much more of a Paris prospect.”
Taylor is currently studying medicine at Bristol University having completed an undergraduate degree in physiotherapy in Cardiff. It was during his time in the Welsh capital that he got into the sport, starting to train in the city as he developed.
“Pretty much for the whole of his first year with us he trained with the uni squad down in Cardiff,” added Hewitt. “Then in 2018 he joined the performance squad in Cardiff for his first international season.
“His first breakthrough race was at the end of 2019 when he came second in Alanya, which was probably the first performance where we could see his potential and was a marked step up from where he’d been before.
“He got put on World Class Programme after that and the reason he went out to Australia at the beginning of 2020 was because Michael could potentially be an outside shot for Tokyo. He’d never done a World Series race until then and came fourth.
“If the Games had been last year he may have qualified but wouldn’t be the athlete he is now. He’s only been beaten by one man in the world all year, and he’s head and shoulders above the rest of the world. Of the rest of the field, Michael’s been the standout athlete.”
Taylor heads to Tokyo with two World Triathlon Para Series silver medals and Para World Cup gold to his name from 2021, with Frenchman Alexis Hanquinquant the only person to go faster than him.
“We’ve always seen he’s had the potential to do it,” Hewitt continued. “I think what’s made the difference is after he finished his undergraduate degree he took a whole year out for training, so he came into 2020 in really good shape.
“It has been a step up but he has done the work, so it’s not necessarily been a surprise. He’s still a really new athlete so you do expect him to make big jumps.
“Yokohama was definitely for me a shock and also for him. We didn’t plan going into that race to say you’ll be up in medal contention, we planned for him to have his best race and the outcome from that was better than expected. It was a bit of a surprise that other athletes hadn’t made the same jump that Michael had.”
Paratriathlon will take place in Tokyo on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 August at 10:30pm BST, with Taylor competing in the men’s PTS4 race on the Friday night.
Find out more about paratriathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games by visiting our Games Hub.
