Tomorrow, on 1st July, the window for Paralympic Qualification will open. Over the coming year, the best Para-triathletes in the world will race to secure their spot in Paris before the window closes on 1st July 2024.
How does the qualification system work?
In total there are 120 slots available for triathletes at the 2024 Paralympic Games. 54 will be allocated to male athletes, 50 to women and then 16 will be reserved to be assigned independently of gender.
Those final 16 slots are allocated for the Bipartite Commission to invite athletes. For the most part, athletes earn Paralympic slots for National Federations as opposed to earning them for themselves. The exception is with the Bipartite Commission invitations. These are issued to specific athletes rather than giving extra slots to countries.
The Paris Paralympics will have 11 medal events in Para-triathlon.
The men will contest 6 classifications: PTWC, PTVI, PTS2, PTS3, PTS4 and PTS5. For each category, there are 9 slots available which takes the men to their total quota of 54.
The difference between the men’s and women’s quotas arises from the fact that the women will race across 5 classifications: PTWC, PTVI, PTS2, PTS4 and PTS5. The women’s PTS4 category is the only event to have more than 9 slots; it has 14.
This is because the women’s PTS3 race is not a Paralympic category. As such, the 5 highest ranked PTS3 athletes will be added to the PTS4 event (at a maximum of 1 per country).
Therefore, except the women’s PTS3, the highest 9 ranked athletes per classification will claim their slots. In any given category, a maximum of 2 slots are available per National Paralympic Committee apart from the women’s PTS4 event where 3 slots are available (1 in PTS3 and 2 in PTS4).
You can read the full qualification criteria here.
Starting with a bang
July kicks off with the World Para Cup in A Coruna, Spain. The following weekend, the World Para Series returns for its third instalment of year with a stop in Montreal, Canada.
To add to the hectic start to the window, the next weekend (14th/15th July) will have two world-level Para-triathlon events on offer. In Long Beach, USA, a World Para Cup will take place. Across the Atlantic, the World Para Series will move on to Swansea, UK, for its fourth round.
Holding the Long Beach and Swansea events concurrently will therefore force athletes to pick and choose where to race.
After July, further events will be available to score points, such as the Paris World Para Cup in August, the World Para Championships in Pontevedra in September and the World Para Cup in Alhandra in October. However, the greatest concentration of events will take place in July.
As a result, the opening of the Paralympic Qualification window might just be the opportune moment to strike.
New faces in A Coruna
A lot of big names are skipping the race in A Coruna. Most notably, the men’s PTWC category will be an open affair as the likes of Jetze Plat and Florian Brungraber have opted out of the event. Moreover the entire men’s PTWC podium from the Yokohama World Para Series (Jumpei Kimura, Howie Sanborn and Nic Beveridge) will be absent.
Several new faces will therefore have an opportunity to accrue early points and put themselves among the top-9 athletes. To that end, the experienced Ahmed Andaloussi will be racing after a bronze medal at the Besancon World Para Cup.
Throughout the men’s PTS and PTVI categories, plenty of the biggest names in Para-triathlon will also be absent. Among the prominent missing names are Jeremy Peacock, Martin Schulz and Thibaut Rigaudeau. The reigning PTS5 world champion, Stefan Daniel, is also absent.
However, there will be plenty of talent to keep an eye on. Antoine Besse, the PTS5 winner in Besancon, will be racing in A Coruna. In addition, Nil Riudavets Victory, the PTS4 winner at the Abu Dhabi World Para Cup, will look to continue his fine run of form while Geoffrey Wersy of France will look to seize the early initiative in the PTS2 race. Wersy already has wins in Yokohama and Besancon to his name in 2023.
On the women’s side, Susana Rodriguez, the preeminent force in the women’s PTVI classification, will be racing and will look to put on a show in front of a home Spanish crowd.
At the same time, many of the stars of women’s Para-triathlon will pass on the event. After renewing their rivalry in Besancon, Grace Norman and Lauren Steadman (both PTS5) will not be racing. Norman was the 2016 Paralympic champion but was denied by Steadman at the Tokyo Games.
Without them, the PTS5 category is an obvious place to look when it comes to different athletes logging early points.
The big guns in Montreal
Instead of A Coruna, Montreal will be the first major showdown.
After clashes in Devonport and Yokohama in the first two stops of the World Para Series, Sanborn and Kimura will battle once more in the men’s PTWC event. Sanborn won at the opening round in Devonport while Kimura crossed the line first in Yokohama. The continued absence of Plat and Brungraber make Sanborn and Kimura the favourites.
After two bronze medals in the Para Series this year, though, Nic Beveridge will also be in the mix.
In the PTS classifications, look for Frenchman Stephane Bahier to take on the Americans Mohamed Lahna and Adam Popp. Bahier’s compatriots Geoffrey Wersy and Jules Ribstein (the 2022 world champion) will not attend the event.
Given that each country can qualify two athletes directly for the Paralympic Games (although more can be added by the Bipartite Commission), the presence of three French stars in the PTS2 category sharpens the race to Paris. One will have to miss out on a home Paralympic Games with only two slots available.
The year-long race between Wersy, Bahier and Ribstein, then, could be the best of the entire qualification window.
Nico Van Der Burgt will be the favourite in the men’s PTS3 category in Montreal. Last year’s world championship silver medallist, he won another silver recently in Besancon.
In terms of direct match-ups, the men’s PTS4 has probably the best one. Alexis Hanquinquant, the man ranked as the best Para-triathlete in the world, will race as Jeremy Peacock and Nils Ruidavets Victory will try to de-throne him. As the winner of the Devonport stage in the Series, Peacock may have the best chance of succeeding.
Hanquinquant, though, will be incredibly difficult to beat.
Besse will race again in the PTS5 category; after A Coruna he could build a very healthy lead in the rankings after the opening two weekends of July. However, with Stefan Daniel returning as well as the youngster Jack Howell, Besse will face stern opposition Montreal.
One notable omission from the Montreal start lists, though, is that of Martin Schulz. The German Paralympic champion from Tokyo won the stop in Devonport but will not travel to Montreal.
At last year’s world championships Daniel got the better of the German. Over the coming races, it appears that they will dance around one another but not quite meet. As such, anticipation for their eventual head-to-head will continue to grow.
Having opted out of A Coruna, Kendall Gretsch and Lauren Parker will look to dominate the women’s PTWC race in Montreal. Both were a cut above the field in Yokohama and no change on that front should be expected.
Their compatriot, Hailey Danz, is likewise the prohibitive favourite in the women’s PTS2 class. Her fellow American, Melissa Stockwell, will be another name to watch.
Indeed, the women’s races in Montreal are largely expected to be tales of American success. In a small field in the PTS4 category, Kelly Elmlinger is the favourite. Similarly Grace Norman is the obvious contender for the gold in the PTS5 race with Steadman not racing
The one exception is the PTVI race. With Rodriguez of Spain racing, America will likely be denied a sweep of the golds. That being said, McClain Hermes is one athlete that could upset the apple cart.
Stick or twist
After Montreal, the athletes will have a choice to make: stay in North America to race in Long Beach or follow the World Para Series to Swansea in the UK.
By the end of the qualification window, the decision taken could come back to haunt a couple of athletes should points become tight.
In the men’s PTWC class, Sanborn will tackle Long Beach against the arriving Florian Brungraber. Across the Atlantic, Jetze Plat will take on Swansea and can be expected to kick off his qualification window with a bang. Kimura and Beveridge, though, will not be attending either event.
The split in the men’s PTS2 field also continues as Wersy, Bahier and Ribstein have chosen to race in Swansea while Lahna and Popp will compete in Long Beach.
Nico Van Der Burgt will look to cement a lead in the PTS3 category in Swansea. Similarly, several of the leading names in the PTS4 class have opted to race in Swansea. Peacock will lead the charge against Hanquinquant again with Americans Carson Clough and Eric McElvenny for company.
Meanwhile, Besse, Schulz and Howell headline the PTS5 race in Swansea. Stefan Daniel is not listed on the start lists for either Long Beach or Swansea.
The split between the two events is perhaps clearest in the men’s PTVI class. Whereas Donnacha Mc Carthy (the winner of the Abu Dhabi World Para Cup) and Owen Craven will be in Long Beach, the world champion, Dave Ellis, will be in Swansea. Thibaut Rigaudeau also adds some star power to the PTVI race in Wales.
The women’s PTVI events are likewise split. McClain Hermes, Jessica Tuomela and Leticia Freitas will race in Long Beach. By contrast, Susana Rodriguez and the rising young Italian Francesca Tarantello will be in Swansea.
Aside from the PTVI race, though, the bulk of the top athletes across the other classes will be heading to Swansea. Elmlinger is an exception as she chooses to race the PTS4 event in Long Beach.
However, Lauren Parker (PTWC) and Alyssa Seely (PTS2) are among the standouts to pick Swansea.
The big race to keep an eye on in Wales will be the women’s PTS5 race when, for the first time in the qualification window, Grace Norman and Lauren Steadman cross paths.
By the end of July, then, the early running of the race to the Paralympics will have taken shape. A lot can happen in a year, but points on the board will make the coming months feel a lot more comfortable.
