The Paris World Para Cup offered a selection of the best Para-triathletes in the world the chance to test two-thirds of the course for next year’s Paralympic Games. A last-minute switch was made after the water quality in the Seine prevented the swim from taking place. As a result, the athletes took on a duathlon.
The event had attracted an array of serious talent, including Paralympic champions Jetze Plat, Martin Schulz and Alexis Hanquinquant.
PTWC
Plat made no mistake in the men’s PTWC race and won by almost a minute. The Dutchman had tackled the first run with Geert Schipper and Florian Brungraber but then flew clear on the bike.
With a lead of over 90 seconds heading out of T2, Plat could afford to cruise to the gold medal. His teammate, Schipper, dropped the fastest run split of the field to seal the silver medal ahead of Brungraber.
In the women’s race, Lauren Parker downed Kendall Gretsch while Jessica Fereira held on for bronze.
Parker arrived in Paris on the back of claiming the gold medal at the UCI World Road Race Championships. As soon as the race became a duathlon, then, she was the overwhelming favourite.
Gretsch nonetheless put up a good fight and had the best split over the second run. In the end, though, Parker simply had a little too much on the day.
PTVI
The defending world champion, Dave Ellis, was a class apart as he won the men’s PTVI race. However, there was a slight degree to which the misfortune of others helped him along the way.
During the opening run, the guide of Hector Catala Laparra lost his shoe in an early setback. Trouble would later befall Kyle Coon as he and his guide miscounted their run laps. After running down the blue carpet at the wrong time, Coon was disqualified.
Amid it all, though, Ellis did not put a foot wrong. He shared the fastest opening run split with Sam Harding (7:49) before unleashing the quickest second run of the day to claim a comprehensive victory. Harding held on for silver ahead of Owen Cravens.
Anja Renner has been a fairly late arrival to the women’s PTVI scene. Over the course of 2023, though, she has logged a series of impressive results. In Paris, she produced her best display yet as she powered to victory.
With the best first run and the best bike split of the field, Renner relegated Francesca Tarantello, the winner of the World Para Series in Swansea, to bronze. Annouck Curzillat also managed to beat out Tarantello with a determined final push on the run.
She may be fairly new to the elite level, but Renner is fast making a name for herself and in a year could be one to watch at the Paralympics.
PTS
With the removal of the swim, Maurits Morsink (PTS2) had his primary weakness eliminated. As a fantastic runner, the duathlon played to his favour and he made the most of it by crushing his rivals in a dominant showing.
He won by almost 3 minutes as he claimed the fastest split on all three legs.
Home favourite Geoffrey Wersy managed to beat Mohamed Lahna in a dramatic final sprint finish to seal the silver medal. Wersy’s teammate, Jules Ribstein, was only 10 seconds back in 4th in what was one of the tightest finishes of the day.
In the men’s PTS3 race, Daniel Molina took up early control of the race and did not look back as his rivals slowly fell away. Cedric Denuziere managed to recoup some time with a big bike split and then went even better as he dropped Molina.
Over the course of the second run, though, Molina wound up the pace until he caught Denuziere and then cruised away to the gold. Denuziere secured the silver medal for his efforts while Nico Van Der Burgt earned the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Alexis Hanquinquant (PTS4) may be ranked as the best Para-triathlete in the world, however he had a real fight on his hands in Paris. His compatriot Pierre-Antoine Baele refused to leave his side for the entirety of the first run and the bike. For much of the final 5km, Baele continued to hang on, pushing Hanquinquant in a way that few have managed over the past few years.
At the last, though, Hanquinquant had a final kick that was too strong for Baele. Despite his bold performance, Baele could only watch as his teammate claimed yet another win. Still, his silver medal confirmed that he could well take down Hanquinquant at next year’s Paralympic Games.
Hideki Uda sealed 3rd place with a smooth final 5km.
Chris Hammer took down Ronan Cordeiro and Stefan Daniel in the men’s PTS5 race with a brilliant second run. Along with Filipe Marques, they had formed a lead quartet into T2. However, Hammer would not be denied over the 5km.
Cordeiro was able to hang on for the longest but he eventually fell back as Hammer won by 29 seconds. Cordeiro took 2nd place while Daniel ran away from Marques to win the bronze medal.
In the women’s PTS2 race, Anu Francis claimed a comfortable 27 second victory over Hailey Danz. Veronica Yoko Plebani came away with the bronze medal.
All three had run together in the opening 2.5km. On the bike, though, Francis set a brutal pace and Plebiani slipped back. Danz held on but Francis continued her surge on the run to overpower her American rival.
Elise Marc and Sanne Koopman were the only finishers in the women’s PTS3 race, with Marc taking the win. As the PTS3 category will not be contested at next year’s Paralympics, they will have to race in the PTS4 class.
Having experienced the Paralympic course, both Marc and Koopman will be confident of making successful returns to Paris next summer.
On the evidence of this weekend, though, they will not have it easy in the PTS4 class.
Kelly Elmlinger won the women’s PST4 race with an awesome performance. Such was her dominance, she won by 6 minutes 34 seconds. If the race between gold and silver was not close, the battle between silver and bronze was an altogether different matter. Marta Francés Gómez managed to edge Elke Van Engelen by 3 seconds.
Finally, in the PTS5 race, Grace Norman was the only woman to break the hour mark as she finished in 59:26 on her way to victory. Her closest rival, Claire Cashmore finished over 3 minutes back while Kamylle Frenette took the bronze medal.
You can view the full results here.
