The triathlon events at the Paralympic Games will see all competitors from the different sport classes compete over a course of 750m of swimming, 20km of cycling and 5km of running.
The medal events that the IPC confirmed for Paris 2024 are the Men’s PTWC, PTS2, PTS3, PTS4, PTS5 and PTVI, and Women’s PTWC, PTS2, PTS4, PTS5 and PTVI, three more medal events than in Tokyo 2020.
Regarding the athlete quota, there will be 54 men (18 more than in Tokyo), 50 women (14 more than in Tokyo) and further 18 invitational spots with no gender pre-determined yet, making a total of 120 Para triathletes competing at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, 40 more than were at Tokyo 2020.
So, ahead of Paris 2024, why not get to know a little more about the events, athletes and classification?
Sport Class Explanation
The Paralympic Para triathlon qualifying system was reformatted for Tokyo to allow for classing-up in certain cases to potentially allow more athletes the opportunity to qualify. The Tokyo 2020 medal events are as follows:
PTWC in both genders: comprising both PTWC1 and PTWC2 sport classes;
PTVI in both genders: comprising PTVI1, PTVI2 and PTVI3 sport classes;
Men’s PTS2;
Men’s PTS3;
Men’s PTS4;
Men’s PTS5
Women’s PTS2;
Women’s PTS4: also including athletes from the PTS3 sport class;
Women’s PTS5.
The basic definitions for each of the classes in paratriathlon are as follows:
PTWC - Wheelchair users. Athletes must use a recumbent handcycle on the bike course and a racing wheelchair on the run segment.
PTS2 - Severe impairments. In both bike and run segments, amputee athletes may use approved prosthesis or other supportive devices.
PTS3 - Significant impairments. In both bike and run segments, amputee athletes may use approved prosthesis or other supportive devices.
PTS4 - Moderate impairments. In both bike and run segments, amputee athletes may use approved prosthesis or other supportive devices.
PTS5 - Mild impairments. In both bike and run segments, amputee athletes may use approved prosthesis or other supportive devices.
PTVI - Includes athletes who are partially sighted to totally blind. Must ride a tandem during the bike segment. One guide of the same nationality and gender is mandatory throughout the race.
Important rules
There are some particularities in Para triathlon, as athletes with varying levels of impairment need different support levels when exiting the water and before reaching the transition area.
There are swim-exit assistants who may assist the athletes upon swim exit depending on the swim cap colour, providing full lifting (red swim cap) or support assistance (yellow swim cap). There is a designated pre-transition area for athletes to collect their assistive devices (PTS2 to PTS4) or access their daily wheelchairs and be stripped by their handlers if needed (PTWC).
Athletes can use conventional bikes with approved adaptations (PTS2, PTS3 & PTS4 classes), a tandem (PTVI) or handcycle (PTWC).
The final section is a 5 km run, which athletes can complete in racing wheelchairs (PTWC), running with or without support of assistive devices (PTS2, PTS3 & PTS4) or alongside their guides (PTVI).
In the PTVI medal event, totally blind athletes (PTVI1) have an advantage through the interval start system. The men start 3’21’’ ahead of the partially sighted field and the women 3’48 ahead.
The PTWC medal event also uses the interval start system. The PTWC1 men start 3’08’’ ahead of the rest of the field and PTWC1 women start 4’04’’ ahead.
Related Event: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Results: PTWC Men | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Jetze Plat H2 | NED | 00:57:51 |
2. | Florian Brungraber H2 | AUT | 00:59:55 |
3. | Giovanni Achenza H1 | ITA | 01:02:05 |
4. | Geert Schipper H2 | NED | 01:03:01 |
5. | Ahmed Andaloussi H1 | FRA | 01:04:45 |
6. | Jumpei Kimura H1 | JPN | 01:04:50 |
7. | Nic Beveridge H1 | AUS | 01:04:50 |
8. | Fathi Zwoukhi H1 | TUN | 01:05:44 |
9. | Pier Alberto Buccoliero H2 | ITA | 01:09:16 |
10. | Alexandre Paviza H1 | FRA | 01:10:54 |
Results: PTS4 Men | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Alexis Hanquinquant | FRA | 00:59:58 |
2. | Hideki Uda | JPN | 01:03:45 |
3. | Alejandro Sánchez Palomero | ESP | 01:04:24 |
4. | Jiachao Wang | CHN | 01:04:54 |
5. | Antonio Franko | CRO | 01:05:49 |
6. | Eric McElvenny | USA | 01:06:28 |
7. | Jorge Luis Fonseca | BRA | 01:07:57 |
8. | Michael Taylor | GBR | 01:08:11 |
9. | Jamie Brown | USA | 01:09:12 |
10. | Mikhail Kolmakov | AIN | 01:10:19 |
Results: PTS5 Men | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Martin Schulz | GER | 00:58:10 |
2. | George Peasgood | GBR | 00:58:55 |
3. | Stefan Daniel | CAN | 00:59:22 |
4. | Chris Hammer | USA | 00:59:28 |
5. | Ronan Cordeiro | BRA | 01:01:22 |
6. | Carlos Rafael Viana | BRA | 01:02:26 |
7. | David Bryant | AUS | 01:02:30 |
8. | Jairo Ruiz Lopez | ESP | 01:02:48 |
9. | Guenther Matzinger | AUT | 01:02:53 |
10. | Yannick Bourseaux | FRA | 01:03:34 |
Results: PTVI Men | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Brad Snyder B1 | USA | 01:01:16 |
2. | Héctor Catalá Laparra B2 | ESP | 01:02:11 |
3. | Satoru Yoneoka B1 | JPN | 01:02:20 |
4. | Thibaut Rigaudeau B2 | FRA | 01:02:48 |
5. | Kyle Coon B1 | USA | 01:03:00 |
6. | Antoine Perel B1 | FRA | 01:03:49 |
7. | Jose Luis García Serrano B1 | ESP | 01:03:55 |
8. | Jonathan Goerlach B3 | AUS | 01:06:18 |
9. | Anatolii Varfolomieiev B1 | UKR | 01:08:24 |
DNF. | Dave Ellis B3 | GBR | DNF |
Results: PTWC Women | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Kendall Gretsch H2 | USA | 01:06:25 |
2. | Lauren Parker H1 | AUS | 01:06:26 |
3. | Eva María Moral Pedrero H1 | ESP | 01:14:59 |
4. | Jessica Ferreira H1 | BRA | 01:16:23 |
5. | Brenda Osnaya Alvarez H1 | MEX | 01:16:32 |
6. | Mona Francis H2 | FRA | 01:16:49 |
7. | Margret Ijdema H1 | NED | 01:16:55 |
8. | Rita Cuccuru H1 | ITA | 01:19:06 |
9. | Wakako Tsuchida H2 | JPN | 01:22:32 |
DNF. | Emily Tapp H1 | AUS | DNF |
Results: PTS2 Women | |||
---|---|---|---|
1. | Allysa Seely | USA | 01:14:03 |
2. | Hailey Danz | USA | 01:14:58 |
3. | Veronica Yoko Plebani | ITA | 01:15:55 |
4. | Fran Brown | GBR | 01:19:42 |
5. | Melissa Stockwell | USA | 01:21:25 |
6. | Yukako Hata | JPN | 01:28:04 |
7. | Rakel Mateo Uriarte | ESP | 01:30:37 |
8. | Veronika Gabitova | AIN | 01:39:40 |