British Paratriathletes top Gold Coast World Championship medal table

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Dave Ellis and Mark Buckingham - 2018 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast
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British Paratriathletes excel. AGAIN.

Stunning team display from the British squad in Australia

“Was that the best performance ever from the Great Britain Paratriathlon team?” That’s what I wrote LAST year after the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships in Rotterdam. After Saturday’s racing on the Gold Coast at the 2018 Championships, we can now answer that with a definitive “no” – because they were even better this time around. 10 athletes started and 10 medals earned, including three Gold. Amazing.

Those performances of individual excellence combined to place the British squad firmly at the top of the Paratriathlon medal table, with just two years now until the second inclusion of the sport at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Gold Coast ITU Paratriathlon World Championship medal table

Gold Silver Bronze Total
GBR 3 5 2 10
USA 2 1 2 5
ESP 2 1 1 4
AUS 1 1 2 4
FRA 1 1 1 3
NED 1 1 2
CAN 1 1
RUS 1 1
GER 1 1 2
JPN 1 1 2
IRL 1 1
LUX 1 1
TOTAL 12 12 12 36

 

Many thanks to Helen Gorman for the extended Paratriathlon race report below from Australia

Great Britain Paratriathlon Team Wins Three World Titles

Every member of the Great Britain Paratriathlon team won a medal at the ITU World Championships on the Gold Coast in Australia. The haul of ten medals included gold medals for Dave Ellis, Lauren Steadman and Hannah Moore.

Ellis, guided by Mark Buckingham won Britain’s first medal of the day in the visually impaired category after he overcame USA’s Aaron Scheidies with a rapid 5km run to the finishing tape. That set the tone for the next few hours, where the British team achieved what Head Coach, Jonathon Riall described as “the most collectively well executed team preparation and delivery to date.”

The number of medals won by the British team wasn’t an indication of easy victories. Today’s races featured almost all of the best athletes in the world, and in the categories that British athletes didn’t win, they made up significant ground on their rivals.

Lauren Steadman, for example not only beat the Paralympic Champion, Grace Norman in the PTS5 category, but she brought teammate, Claire Cashmore with her and relegated Norman to bronze. In the same category,In the same category, George Peasgood won his first global medal since the classifications were restructed five years ago and made the dominant favorites Stefan Daniel (CAN) and Martin Schulz (GER) work very hard to catch him after exceptional swim and bike legs.

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💥 B A C K O N P O D I U M💥 Now vs 5yrs ago. 🥉 vs 🥉 Honestly can’t stop grinning. • 5years is the time it’s taken for me to podium again at a World Championships. Only a handful of people truly know how much this means to me. • It has been a long time dreaming of this moment. In 2013 when I last won a medal at worlds I was racing a pure below knee impaired category (TRI-5). @martin_schulz_paratriathlon won the 2013 TRI- 4 (below elbow impaired) category in 1:05:41, >7min quicker than myself in TRI-5. In 2014 they merged the 2 categories (below elbow & below knee) for Rio2016 and so one of the hardest comebacks I have endured started. The whole sport has improved drastically over the years which has been amazing to observe but made the challenge even tougher. I managed to get quicker year on year, qualify for Rio and have managed to carry on improving little by little. Each course has its differences but to show the improvements, yesterday the top 5 finished under 1hour on an honest course & I was 30sec behind Martin (🥈). This has been an epic 5years, and I hope it’s only the start of my ParaTri career. Consider it the introduction to what I hope to be a novel of my sporting history. • An absolute huge thank you for the support and belief in me, you guys know who you are; this medal is a thank you to you. I couldn’t have done this without you. So so many more people and sponsors to thank but to name a few: @brittri | @jonnyriall | @coachcasson | @tnluk | @huubdesign | @leighdaycycling | @teresapeasgood @davidpeasgood | @jacktricoach | everyone and a specific few at @ltpc_ | @clareparry62 | Saffron Walden Tri Club. And more. I raise a glass with you. #underdog @worldtriathlon Also an absolute huge well done to everyone who raced, my competitors but more so each of my team mates who also stop on a podium! 📸 @jokleindl

A post shared by George Peasgood (@george_peasgood) on

Joe Townsend, sixth in Rio, has upped his performance in the wheelchair class massively this year. Not only did he win bronze, but he also edged closer to the huge Dutchmen, Jetze Plat and Geert Schipper.

Joseph Townsend ITU Paratriathlon World Championship

Two of Britain’s Rio medal winners, Alison Patrick and Andy Lewis both won silver. Patrick is adapting to working with new guide, Hannah Drewett in the visually impaired class, and Lewis rode the emotional rollercoaster that has seen his PTS2 class omitted from Tokyo to win another global medal. Also in silver were Fran Brown (PTS2) and Ryan Taylor (PTS3).

ITU Paratriathlon World Championships 2018
Alison Patrick, guided by Hannah Drewett

Britain’s least experienced team member, Hannah Moore, made an immediate impact with gold, demonstrating Riall’s assertion that this team now has its expectations set very high.

Riall concluded: “Overall this is the most successful outcome for our team in its short history and testament to the continuous hard work from every member of coaching and support staff.”

Athlete reactions

 Dave Ellis:

“What an amazing feeling. It was a tough race and I wasn’t sure it would happen but I got it on the run. We made the best of the race and stuck to our game plan. The guys went out harder than us but we built through it.”

Hannah Moore:

“They were good conditions for me and on the bike I just went as hard as I could to try and create a gap to the other girls and then just hang on during the run. It was hot out there and a tough race but I am delighted with the result. I can go celebrate now!”

Lauren Steadman:

“I wasn’t expecting to win but I knew I would try my best and it was enough. I kind of planned to make the bike leg my strongest but I didn’t get as far away as I wanted to but then I found my legs on the run so I was really happy. There is still more to come and I have more technique work to do but I’m really chuffed and just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me get here.”

Great Britain medals

Gold: Dave Ellis, Hannah Moore, Lauren Steadman

Silver: Fran Brown, Claire Cashmore, Alison Patrick, Andy Lewis, Ryan Taylor

Bronze: George Peasgood, Joe Townsend