British success at World Triathlon Para Cup Besancon
Rio 2016 Paralympic Silver medallist, Alison Peasgood, will be feeling a lot more confident about her presence at the forthcoming Paralympic Games in Tokyo in August today.
While well inside the top-10 of the World Para rankings in the PTVI category, having missed some races with injury in late 2019, including the European and World Championship, had potentially left her much lower down the parallel ‘Paralympic Qualification Rankings’, than her talent perhaps deserved.
Third place last weekend at the World Triathlon Para Series Leeds helped, but had still left her ‘only’ 11th in those rankings, due to those missed events. That meant added importance and a trip to Sunday’s World Triathlon Para Cup in Besancon, France. In the absence of her regular Guide, Nikki Bartlett (who was busy finishing third at the Dorney Triathlon), Alison was reunited with Hazel Smith who (as Hazel McLeod), had guided her to Silver back in Rio.
Taking victory in France was the result, and importantly results in Alison rising five place up those rankings, to sixth position. That’s well inside the British selection criteria. With only one possible scoring race left – coming up in this week in A Coruna, Spain, that might well me more than enough not to have to make that trip.
Claire Cashmore has no such concerns about rankings. Second last week in Leeds, even winning in France was enough to add any further points to her #1 position in the standings. She will surely be joining Lauren Steadman in the PTS5 category, where the British pair will perhaps start as the race favourites.
Cashmore dominated in France, to win by more than seven minutes.
In the men’s PTVI category, Rhys Jones (guided by Rhys James), finished in ninth position.
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