Mike Cavendish on GB’s five-star show in Paris and why the future looks bright for paratri

Next week will see Dave Ellis and Megan Richter aiming to complete the ‘triple-crown’ in 2024 of Paralympic, World and European titles.

Both struck gold in Paris and both are already European Champions as they head to the World Grand Finals in Torremolinos.

There were five GB medal winners at the Paralympics in Paris – Claire Cashmore, Lauren Steadman and Hannah Moore were the others – and all but Moore will line up in Spain.

And we’ve been catching up with Mike Cavendish, British Triathlon’s Performance Director, to look back at a memorable day in the French capital and cast his mind forward to the next Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

‘Outpouring of emotion’

The obvious starting point was Ellis – and his guide Luke Pollard – after he rectified the one glaring omission from his glittering CV following the heartbreak of that bike mechanical which cost him the chance of gold in Tokyo.

Dave and Luke are now the current men’s PTVI Paralympic (2024), World (2023), Commonwealth (2022) and European (2024) champions and victory in Torremolinos would make Ellis a seven-time World Champion.

Explaining just what it meant for Ellis to win in Paris, Cavendish told us: “It’s just an enormous redemption story. It is ridiculous to think that was his first Paralympic medal in paratriathlon. 

“He should have had one three years ago, but for an utterly cruel slice of misfortune. It was then a long three years for him and Luke and I know they were really nervous going into that race, thinking is lightning going to strike twice? 

“But they were absolutely the class of the field. They took it relatively steady on the bike to make sure they got round and there were no problems and then just ran away from everybody. 

“It was just so nice to watch them lapping in the moment and enjoying it – two guys who have worked so hard and who have had so little luck finally getting the recognition they deserve. 

“That genuine outpouring of emotion, particularly when you saw Luke step back and let Dave have centre stage and then Dave kind of pulled him back in a big hug, I don’t think there was a dry eye because everybody just knew how much they put into that.”

Asked if he sees Ellis as the figurehead for GB paratri, Cavendish says: “I don’t think he’d like to be because he’s very quiet and unassuming – but he is!

“He’s a senior athlete. His work rate is impeccable. He’s one of those athletes that just goes about his work under the radar, doesn’t say an awful lot, doesn’t kick up a fuss and just gets on with it. And he sets an unbelievable example to everybody else. 

“And whilst he might not like to think of himself as the figurehead, I think it’s probably quite an apt description for him.”

All Paralympic medals are special

Lauren Steadman completed the full set of Paralympic medals by winning bronze in the women’s PTS5 category in Paris, adding to gold in Tokyo and silver in Rio.

Both her and Claire Cashmore just found American Grace Norman too strong in Paris and Cavendish had no complaints, telling us: “Sometimes you just have to accept there’s an athlete who’s just a little bit too good. 

“Lauren had said a few times in interviews that she’d had a difficult build-up so for her to even get on the start line fit and healthy and to be in a position to be able to enjoy it was a win. I’m not sure she’ll ever compare it to the gold that she won in Tokyo, but I think she’ll take an enormous amount of satisfaction from it, probably more so than I think she ever would have expected. 

“And Claire’s just inching closer. She’s like Dave. She just puts the miles in, gets closer and closer and closer every time. And to see her be able to go toe to toe, particularly on the bike, I think she put out the performance that she wanted. 

“She was just so happy to have been able to go out there and have a race that she was proud of because again, remember in Tokyo she had a couple of penalties – and a silver medal should absolutely not be sniffed at.”

Richter scale shock

The other two medals – gold for Megan Richter and bronze for Hannah Moore – both came in the PTS4 category and Cavendish said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody as surprised as Megan was. She barely spoke for an hour and a half afterwards.

“She’d had her injury problems and barely competed for a year and a half due to various issues. So it’s a real kudos with her and Hannah, to our medical team and science team for getting them on the start line and then they just went out and let their talent show to both get on the podium.

“Hannah had had some health challenges. We took her off the programme, which obviously she didn’t like and I completely understand that. But for her to come back in the way that she has done, especially as she was ill in the lead up, to go and win a medal was just amazing. 

“She’s absolutely chomping at a bit to come back and improve on it again next time too.”

Looking to the future

Asked if five medals was in line with expectations, Cavendish told us: “It was probably more than we expected so we’re in a really good place.

“And don’t forget Alison Peasgood [fourth in the women’s PTVI] who had a baby a year ago and had a tough route just to qualify. 

“Henry Urand too was fourth and has only just turned 22.

And there were plenty of other impressive performances which bodes well for the future. We’ve also got some new ones coming through and I think that puts us in a really good place for the Paralympics in LA. 

“And with four years as opposed to three, we’ve just got more time to move them forwards. So I would be surprised if we are not looking at getting at least, at the very least, the same medal haul for LA that we’ve got this time. And hopefully building on that again.”

Asked where there’s potential room for improvement, Cavendish added: “The one area that I feel like we need to do some development on are the wheelchair classes. We haven’t got a lot coming through there yet, and unfortunately, the front of the men’s and the women’s fields, particularly the winners, are so far ahead of everybody else that they are probably going to be gone even for four years time. But behind that there’s definitely opportunity.

And Cavendish also feels there’s work to be done behind the scenes to make sure paratri stays in the spotlight during the whole Paralympic cycle.

He said: “I think collectively we all need to do a much better job on paratri and really tell the stories of these athletes and the rivalries. 

“It’s really easy to sell the Lauren Steadman / Claire Cashmore / Grace Norman rivalry, but there’s plenty of others out there.

“We need to invest more in the events and the narrative, because then we’ve got a chance of attracting more disabled people to participate both from the grassroots level and upwards. We also want more people to watch, because the races are exciting so you’ve got to get that narrative right. If you can do that, then the future of the sport is really positive.”