On a great day for the sport in Abu Dhabi, some of the world’s best para triathletes delivered magnificent performances to add a world title to their already impressive season. Jetze Plat (NED, PTWC), Susana Rodriguez (ESP, PTVI) and Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA, PTS4) finished the season in style, adding a World Title to their respective Paralympic golds. USA was the most successful country overall at the 2021 World Triathlon Para Championships in Abu Dhabi, claiming in total three gold medals out of the 12 medal events, while France, Spain and UK won two golds each.
PTVI
The Men PTVI class was the first one
to take the stage in Abu Dhabi for the 2021 World Triathlon Para Championships,
and it was clear from the beginning that the race will be a battle of two: Dave
Ellis -and guide Luke Pollard - and Hector Catala Navarro -and guide Angel
Salamanca-. For Ellis, Abu Dhabi was the perfect opportunity to cap a season
that didn’t go as planned, missing the Tokyo Paralympic podium after an
unfortunate crash. But the British was decided not to repeat the mistake, and
he went full gas from the beginning, with Catalá Laparra, silver in Tokyo and
two times World Champion, was not able to follow. A magnificent run was enough
to grant Ellis his third World title, while the Spaniard crossed the finish
line in second place, followed by American Kyle Coon, who took home a bronze on
his debut in the World Championships.
On the women’s race, current
Paralympic and World champion Susana Rodriguez gave no chances to her rivals,
and claimed her third World title in a row, with a magnificent run under the
Abu Dhabi heat. The Tokyo heat preparation came in handy for the Spaniard, who
showed that she is used to bike and run with temperatures well above 30
degrees. Italian Anna Barbaro tried to keep up with Rodriguez, but a penalty
for leaving equipment outside the box made things even more complicated for the
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic silver medallist, who just was left to fight for second
place. Great Britain’s Alison Peasgood claimed bronze, finishing the season
with a high after also missing the Tokyo 2020 podium.
PTWC
If there’s someone unbeatable in the
para triathlon scene that is Jetze Plat (NED). Double Paralympic champion, he
has not lost a race since 2015 and it was clear that Abu Dhabi was not going to
be a different one. The Dutch was the first one on the PTWC class getting out
of the water and on that position he stayed the whole race, to cross the finish
line and claim the 5th World crown of his career. Behind him, his teammate
Geert Schipper (NED) crossed the finish line in second place, while Austrian
Florian Brungraber finished a few seconds behind him in third place.
For Lauren Parker (AUS), Abu Dhabi
was the perfect set up to finish the season with a high, after the
disappointing for her sprint that ended up with her finishing in the second
place at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The young Aussie repeated the title she
got for the first time in Lausanne 2019, while the upcoming star of the class
Jessica Ferreira (BRA) finished in the second place. Spaniard Eva Maria Moral
Pedrero crossed the finish line in third, the same medal she got at the
Paralympics on the debut of the class at the Paralympics.
PTS2
The season couldn’t have finished
better for Frenchman Jules Ribstein, the new PTS2 World Champion, a title that
comes just a week after winning the Alhandra Para Cup and less than a month
after claiming the European title. The Frenchman, winner also in 2019, crossed
the finish line almost one minute ahead of Spaniard Lionel Morales. The bronze
medal was for an impressive Wim De Paepe (BEL) on the second race of his career.
It was the American Hailey Danz who
claimed the World title in the PTS2 female category, on a race that had to deal
with the worst weather conditions of all, athletes starting at the peak of the
Abu Dhabi heat. An impressive bike by British Fran Brown was enough to grant
her the silver place, while Liisa Lilja (FIN) returned to the competition after
the injury that left her out of the Tokyo Games to capture a bronze medal in
Abu Dhabi.
PTS3
Another impressive bike segment was
the one that granted the athlete representing the Russian Federation, Victor
Chebotarev, to cross the finish line in the first place of the Men’s PTS3
class, just ahead of multiple times world champion Daniel Molina, only able to
claim silver in Abu Dhabi. Nico Van Der Burgt marked the fastest bike split of
the morning, enough to grant him the final spot on the podium.
In the women’s field, with only three
athletes lining up, it was the clear favourite, Spaniard Andrea Miguelez Ranz,
the one who delivered a flawless performance to grab the world title in the
third race of her career, finishing almost five minutes ahead of Elise Marc
(FRA), wh finished in the second place. The bronze medal was for Evgeniya
Koroleva, representing the Russian Triathlon Federation.
PTS4
In the PTS4 Men’s race, another
flawless race for the class leader Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA), who once more
didn’t give any chances to his rivals. The Frenchman made the difference with
another fantastic swim and powerful bike segments. by the time he went on for
the run, it was clear that the rest of the field will have to fight for the
other two spots on the podium. Hanquinquant rounded a fantastic year, claiming
the Paralympic, World and European titles in just three months. Behind him on
the finish line was Japanese Hideki Uda, while rounding up the podium was
Alejandro Sanchez Palomero (ESP), a podium that was an exact replica of the one
at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Kelly Elmlinger (USA) is the 2021
World Para Champion in the PTS4 women’s race in Abu Dhabi, finishing over three
minutes ahead of Spaniard Marta Frances Gomez, whose impairment are severely
impacted by the heat and struggled to make it through the race. The bronze
medallist was Elke Van Elgelem (GER).
PTS5
A sprint finish granted USA’s Chris
Hammer an unexpected medal at the Men’s PTS5 class, after an impressive run
that was almost 40 seconds faster than anyone else, enough to outsprint
two-times Paralympic champion Martin Shuzl in the last meters before entering
the blue carpet. Second on the finish one was Aleksandr Konyshev (RTF), while
Brazil’s Ronan Cordeiro, another member of the new generation of para
triathletes, finished in the thrid place.
On the women’s field, it was Great
Britain Claire Cashmore who claimed the world title, after beating Grace Norman
(USA) in the last kilometer of the run. The two of them were accompanied on the
podium by Alisa Kolpakchy (UKR) in third place.
Read all results HERE https://triathlon.org/results/result/2021_world_triathlon_para_championships_abu_dhabi/526357?mc_cid=a455e47f15&mc_eid=6139649918
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and transparency
at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the sport to be
extraordinary.
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