Paratriathlon in Paris: Ellis, Parker and Plat top podiums ahead of Paralympic Games

It’s been a busy few days in the City of Light, with Paris hosting Olympic and Paralympic Test Events across Individual, Mixed Team Relay and Paratriathlon disciplines.

From a Para perspective, Saturday’s World Triathlon Para Cup Paris provided the ‘Test’.

As a Para Cup event – rather than the top tier World Triathlon Para Series – that also meant that entry numbers are more strictly limited (there were 80 starters in Paris). That meant that there was no start for the likes of reigning Paralympic Games champions, Lauren Steadman (GBR) and Allysa Seely (USA). The recent WTPS Swansea, for example, had 100 starters.

One thing both races had in common was a change or format; while Swansea ultimately went ahead as an Aquathlon, as we reported, it was a run-bike-run Duathlon for the paratriathletes in the French capital.

Dave Ellis dominates

One of the star names in Paratriathlon, Dave Ellis and his Guide Luke Pollard, were dominant in the Men’s PTVI category. Into T1 with a leading trio, they pulled clear on the bike from Sam Harding (AUS) and Lazar Filipovic (SRB), before making their move on the bike and then setting the fasted second run time too, to win by a significant margin.

They weren’t actually the first pairing across the line… but unfortunately for Kyle Coon (USA) and Guide, they hit the blue carpet a lap early on the run.

World Triathlon Para Cup Paris 2023 - Dave Ellis and Luke Pollard — Photo Credit: Wagner Araujo / World Triathlon

It wasn’t just Kyle Coon going wrong, but double Paralympic Champion, Martin Schulz (GER), also had issues in the Men’s PTS5 race. For Martin, it was too many laps that was the issue – in his case, an extra bike lap. That left the USA’s Chris Hammer to run clear and take victory, ahead of Ronan Cordeiro (BRA) and Stefan Daniel (CAN).

World Triathlon Para Cup Paris 2023 - Chris Hammer PTS5 — Photo Credit: Wagner Araujo / World Triathlon

Favourites deliver

While Schulz had lap-counting woes, several other favourites for gold here next summer, duly delivered, despite the change of format. Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA) in M-PTS4, Jetze Plat (NED) in M-PTWC, Lauren Parker (AUS) in W-PTWC and Grace Norman (USA) in W-PTS5 were some of the star names who duly took the tape on the Ponte Alexandre III in style.