One year ago, the world’s para
triathletes lined up on the edge of Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina with dreams of
becoming the 2021 World Champions. On Thursday morning, across six men’s and
six women’s categories, this year’s world titles will again be awarded in the
UAE as Para Triathlon gets the 2022 Championship Finals Abu Dhabi underway.
A new course awaits in the waters and
highways of the southern tip of Yas Island, where the 750m anti-clockwise swim
transitions to five fast and flat laps on the bikes and then on to a two-lap, 5km
run to the tape, and an extended highlights show replaying all the action will
be available on TriathlonLive.tv following the races.
PTVI: Rodriguez & Ellis set to
defend their titles
Two names have dominated visually
impaired triathlon racing over recent years; Spain’s Susana Rodriguez B1 and
Britain’s Dave Ellis B3. The Spaniard has been untouchable, scooping World and
Paralympic titles and relentlessly setting the gold standard for three seasons
in a row, though long-term rival Alison Peasgood B2 (GBR) will be among the
names looking to ensure she doesn’t have it all her way on Thursday. Ireland’s
Chloe Maccombe B3 was a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in July and, along
with WTPS Swansea champion Annouck Curzillat B1, will be among the medal favourites
once again.
Ellis will be up against US National
Champion Kyle Coon B1 and the experienced Australian Jonathan Goerlach B3,
while another Brit, Oscar Kelly B3, suffered a mechanical at the Commonwealth
Games that took him out of medal contention in much the same way as happened to
Ellis at Tokyo 2020, and the 21-year-old will be trying to find for redemption
on the big stage.
PTWC: Parker & Plat headline
stacked start lists
The wheelchair category athletes will
be away next, Australia’s Lauren Parker H1 aiming for a third successive world
title but well aware of the talent hoping to dethrone her. That of course
includes Kendall Gretsch H2, the American who out-sprinted Parker to earn
Paralympic gold by the finest of margins in Tokyo, bronze medallist in Tokyo
Eva Maria Moral Pedrero H1 (ESP) and Brazil’s Jessica Ferreira H1, a podium
placer in both Yokohama and Swansea this year.
Jetze Plat’s winning streak showed no
sign of being halted in 2022, teammate Geert Schipper H2 the only man able to
stay within touching distance of the Paralympic and World Champion in recent
years but well aware that anything can happen over the three disciplines and in
the heat of the UAE. The familiar faces of Giovanni Achenza H1 (ITA), Florian
Brungraber H2 (AUT) and Howie Sanborn H1 (USA) will again be doing battle for
the medals, the Austrian with some of the fastest times of any man in the
racing wheelchair and he will want to improve on his swim last year to bring
that weapon into full use.
PTS2: Ribstein & Danz return to
Abu Dhabi
It was the huge early advantage Jules
Ribstein’s swim prowess earned him that helped the Frenchman to his second
world title here last year, but Netherlands’ Maurits Morsink is unlikely to
give him any such luxury this time around. Spain’s Lionel Morales has picked up
two WTPS titles this season and the form of American Mohamed Lahna could also
see him among the medal contenders on Thursday.
American duo Hailey Danz and Melissa
Stockwell will be ready to fire up their rivalry once again in the women’s race
having shared the podium in Leeds last year and with their Paralympic Champion
teammate Allysa Seely still recovering from a knee injury. Finland’s Liisa
Lilja and Veronica Yoko Plebani (ITA) will no doubt be vying for the podium
places once again.
PTS3: Marc & Molina eye world
titles
The women’s PTS3 title will be a
straight shootout between Netherlands’ emerging young talent Sanne Koopman and
last year’s silver medallist Elise Marc of France. For the men’s race, it will
be a tough task for anyone to top Spanish star Daniel Molina, though Nico Van
Der Bergt (NED) could be just the person to do it after emerging victorious at
WTPS Swansea back in August.
PTS4: Hanquinquant & Elmlinger
the two to beat
The evergreen Alexis Hanquinquant has
continued his domination of the PTS4 category in 2022, extending a winning
streak that goes back to 2019 to include both Paralympic and world titles.
Victory here would be his fifth world title in a row, but the likes of
compatriot Pierre-Antoine Baele will be hoping to finally break that spell,
Japan’s Hideki Uda the man who finished one place behind Hanquinquant at Tokyo
2020 - and again here last year - and hoping to produce a career-best showing
in Abu Dhabi.
Spain’s Marta Frances Gomez continued
to make a splash after her move from Para Swimming, following WTPS silver in
Montreal with a fifth Cup win in Alanya, though USA’s Kelly Elmlinger will
arguably be favourite to retain her title, German national champion Elke Van
Engelen third here 12 months ago and one of the fastest PTS4 women around when
it comes to the bike.
PTS5: Cashmore vs Norman and huge
men’s race ahead
The women’s PTS5 races are invariably
among the most hotly contested of the Para Triathlon Championships, and we will
once again see Grace Norman (USA) and Claire Cashmore (GBR) bringing the best
out of eachother and the rest of the field as they continue to trade the
honours at the top of the sport. Norman has a Paralympic gold and silver to her
name, Cashmore a bronze as well as the last two world titles, Ukrainian Alisa
Kolpakchy and this year’s WTPS Montreal silver medallist Kamylle Frenette (CAN)
among the athletes hoping to influence the race outcome.
Another Canadian, Stefan Daniel, has
back-to-back Series wins in 2022, but the return of Paralympic Champion Martin
Schulz will make this one of the toughest races to call of the entire day.
USA’s Chris Hammer pulled out an incredible sprint finish to win the world
title here in 2021, while Brazil’s Ronan Cordeiro and Portugal’s Filipe Marques
are also likely to be featuring at the pointy end of what should be a
nail-biting battle for the men’s title.
For the full start lists of the 2022
Para Triathlon World Championships, click here.
Para Triathlon Mixed Relay to make
its debut
World Triathlon is proud to announce
an Open Para Triathlon Mixed Relay race, that will take place this Saturday
during the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Finals Abu Dhabi. The race will be
the debut of an event that World Triathlon is looking forward to incorporate to
our catalogue of events, at all levels.
After the great success of the Mixed
Relay at the Olympics in Tokyo, the Para Mixed Relay shares the same
principles, but adapted to a competition with Para triathletes. Each team will
composed of four athletes (two men and two women). Each team member will cover
a complete triathlon race/distance (draft illegal): 125- 150m Swim, 3,5 - 4km
Bike and 0,8 - 1km Run. The total time for the team is from the start of the
1st athlete until the finish of the athlete doing the 4th full distance. A team may be composed of three athletes (at
least one of different gender) with a non-PTWC athlete able to complete two
(non-consecutive) legs.
Teams will be composed by National
Federations, but in this first event, as an open race, every effort should be
made for teams to be formed within the same NF, but if NFs need to combine
athletes to make a mixed relay team, this will be allowed. Only one athlete per
Sport Class per gender is recommended but limited to one in the case of PTWC or
PTVI. For all other classes, if the class is repeated it must be different
gender.
The first athlete must be a PTWC
athlete of any gender and cannot repeat any segment, and gender is not a factor
in determining the starting order of the athletes if the team consists of all
different sport classes.
The Para Triathlon Mixed Relay will
take place on Saturday 26th November at 07.15am and it promises to bring all
the excitement and team spirit to Abu Dhabi. Don’t miss it!
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.
www.triathlon.org
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