Back in Rio 2016, Spanish young doctor and blind para triathlete Susana Rodriguez crossed the finish line in 5th place, and promised herself that she will do better in Tokyo. And today she delivered. Only a month after making it to the front cover of Time magazine for her dual work as a professional athlete preparing to compete in two events -para triathlon and para athletics- in Tokyo and fighting the pandemic at the hospital where she works, Rodriguez and her guide Sara Loehr just became the Tokyo 2020 PTVI Paralympic champion. Italian Anna Barbaro (and guide Charlotte Bonin) finished second and Annouk Curzillat and guide Celine Busrez (France) in third place.
Five years after we saw one of the
most dramatic finishes ever in the PTVI women’s race in Rio 2016 -and with
Katie Kelly claiming then the gold medal-, 12 blind athletes toed the start
line in Tokyo, one of the more competitive fields ever but also one f the most
uncertain one, considering the impact that Covid has had on many athletes and
on their preparations for the Paralympic Games. Many of them have not competed
at the highest level since February 2020, or have had difficulties to properly
train, so there could be surprises especially considering the heat conditions
and the non-wetsuit swim provisions for the races this weekend.
And Spaniard Suusana Rodriguez
decided from the first minute that she didn’t want any surprises. She has shown
extraordinary performances since 2019 when she won the Yokohama WPS event, and
it has been all wins for her since then, except for a DNF in Funchal 2019. But
with a new guide in Tokyo, she didn’t want to leave any chances to he rivals.
Rodriguez led the swim from the
beginning, with only Canada’s Jessica Tuomela behind her. Toumela has had a
tremendous progress in the last couple of years and managed to keep up with the
pace of Rodriguez in the swim and also on the bike, always less than a minute
behind her. But a slow second transition gave all hopes to the athletes behind,
Anna Barbaro, Annouk Curzillat and Allison Peasgood (GBR) to start the chase.
While Rodriguez ride and then run
completely solo to claim the victory stopping the clock on 1h07’15’‘, behind
her Barbaro proved again to be a top athlete at key races and claimed silver,
the best result of her career so far. An incredible last kilometer gave
Curzillat the bronze medal despite the efforts of Peasgood and her guide Nikki
Barlett, who sprinted all along the blue carpet to finish in the disappointing
fourth place.
“In the world of sports, this means
everything. We can do really good races, we can win world championships and
each race has its own history. But there is nothing as big as the Paralympics.
Since I was a kid and I realised I had a disability I wanted to go to the
Paralympics,” said Rodriguez.
“I went to the Paralympics in Rio and
finished fifth and promised myself I wanted a new opportunity. For that
opportunity I needed to work very hard to get better in the three events of
triathlon. This is what I have been doing in the lead-up to these Games and I
think I have done my homework.Today we executed the plan to perfection.”
Toumela and guide Marianne Hogan
closed the top five, while Rio 2016 gold medallist Katie Kelly and guide
Briarna Silk finished in 6th place.
Results: PTVI Women
1.Susana Rodriguez B1 ESP 01:07:15
2.Anna Barbaro B1 ITA 01:11:11
3.Annouck Curzillat B1 FRA 01:11:45
4.Alison Peasgood B2 GBR 01:11:47
5.Jessica Tuomela B1 CAN 01:12:53
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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