For the world’s PTS2 athletes hoping to realise their Paralympic medal ambitions, there have been some significant hurdles on both sides of the gender fence in the two editions of Paralympic Triathlon to date.
On the women’s side, it has been the dominance of an exceptional trio of US athletes that’s has hamstrung wider efforts to podium. Allysa Seely, Hailey Danz and Melissa Stockwell have claimed five of the six medals between them in the category’s Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 outings, just Veronica Yoko Plebani able to halt their charge with bronze in Tokyo.
On the men’s side, the PTS2 athletes didn’t feature on the programme in Japan, leaving another American, Mohamed Lahna, as the only previous medallist from that historic Rio debut to make a Paris start line that is thick with hungry medal contenders.
The men and women will line up at 9:30am and 9:35am CEST respectively on Monday 2 September. Course information can be found here, check local TV listings for details on where to watch.
Seely eyes momentous threepeat
50 seconds is all that has separated compatriots Allysa Seely and Hailey Danz in the past two editions, the former superior over the 5km run, the latter over the 20km bike.
But it was Melissa Stockwell who secured her qualification at the all-important US selection event of the 2024 Continental Championships, Danz in second, leaving Seely reliant on a Bipartite invitation to defend her titles. Back-to-back Series wins in Swansea and Montreal suggest the 35-year-old is back in the form that could earn a third win at the highest level. Consecutive silvers for Danz will keep her hunger for gold burning.
It was the Italian Plebani who scored a brilliant bronze in Tokyo, the pinnacle of her rise to form in 2021 after four years in the sport bringing her run up to the level of her rivals. Excellent on the bike and strong in the water, she will want to deploy the best of both to be in medal contention over that final 5km.
Making her Paralympic Triathlon debut and equally ready to podium will be Australia’s Anu Francis. Silver in Yokohama in May to go with her World Championship silver in 2023, the Paris Test Event winner has arguably the best bike in the PTS2 business and that could help carve out a critical advantage just as it did last year in the French capital.
Ribstein chasing home gold glory
The men’s PTS2 is just as difficult to predict, the start list thick with talent, not to mention world titles and Series wins. The fact that the past four World Championships have been claimed by French legend Jules Ribstein puts him firmly in the ‘favourite’ bracket, but doesn’t tell the full story.
An excellent swim-biker and one of the fastest runners on the block, there are plenty around the 37-year-old who will be heading into Paris just as confident, albeit not likely to be on the receiving end of the same levels of crowd encouragement through the streets of his capital city.
Among them Mohamed Lahna, who tops the Paralympic rankings thanks to World Championship silver last year and Series wins in June in Swansea and Montreal to take the in-form label. Conversely, Ribstein’s starts have been confined to two Para Cup wins since Pontevedra, while it was Netherlands’ Maurits Morsink who took the Test Event honours last summer over a duathlon format that he stamped his authority on over the opening 2.5km run.
Settling for silver behind Lahna in Swansea after running out of course, Morsink will look to detonate his run power on the Paris streets, while another American, Mark Barr, has made a splash on his return to the sport in 2023 and will be a threat just as he was in Rio 2016, finishing just 16 seconds off the medal places.
For the full start lists, click here.
