The world’s most competitive paratriathletes will descend on Swansea Bay on Saturday 15 July for the 2023 World Triathlon Para Series.
The Prince of Wales Dock and SA1 Waterfront will once again host this standalone event which plays a crucial role in the qualification process for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
In a rare opportunity for Great Britain’s paratriathletes to compete on home soil, they will be hoping that the support of a home crowd will give them the competitive edge they need to secure a spot on the podium next month.
Not only will this event feature some of the most decorated paratriathletes the world has to offer, but it will also see a world-class marathon runner, a para cycling world champion, an endurance world record holder, a doctor, and a Winter Paralympic hopeful take to the start line – and that’s just a handful of their accomplishments.
Here are seven of the most exciting athletes to watch on Saturday 15 July.
PTS5 Women – Lauren Steadman (Great Britain)
Lauren Steadman came to paratriathlon having already been to two Paralympic Games as a swimmer in 2008 and 2012. Born without a right forearm, she went to her first Paralympics in Beijing aged just 15 and competed at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Since making her paratriathlon debut in 2011, Steadman has won Paralympic gold and silver medals at Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 respectively. A triple World Champion and seven-time European Champion, she is no stranger to the podium.
Steadman will be joined by her two fellow medallists from Tokyo in her PTS5 race in Swansea next month (Grace Norman of USA and fellow Brit, Claire Cashmore) – a race that is guaranteed to be a highlight of the day.
After appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and SAS Who Dares Wins, Steadman is a recognisable name in the UK. In parallel with her training for Paris 2024, Steadman is targeting the Winter Paralympics in 2026 where she hopes to compete in cross country skiing.
PTS5 Women – Claire Cashmore, MBE (Great Britain)
Claire Cashmore will be returning to Swansea to defend her title from the event’s inaugural year in 2022. A seasoned Paralympian, Cashmore entered the world stage at only 16 years of age as a swimmer, qualifying for Athens and coming home with two bronze medals, a bronze at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008, and a further two silvers and a bronze at the Paralympic Games in London 2012.
Cashmore made the switch to paratriathlon in 2017, becoming a Paralympic bronze medallist in Tokyo just four years later. Within that time, she has also been a multiple National Champion, European Champion, and a two-time World Champion.
Born without a left forearm, Cashmore is an ambassador for disability sport and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year’s Honours for services to swimming. She is also a linguistics graduate and a children’s author.
PTVI Women – Susanna Rodriguez (Spain)
Susanna Rodriguez is a reigning Paralympic Champion, a five-time World Champion and has won the European title three times. She has remained undefeated in the women’s PTVI paratriathlon category since 2019.
Rodriguez lost her eyesight as a result of being born with albinism but hasn’t let that stop her from succeeding in two careers running in parallel with each other. In addition to being one of the world’s strongest and most successful paratriathletes, Rodriguez is also a doctor and played a crucial role during the Covid-19 pandemic, working in a hospital in Spain. Rodriguez would return home from her shifts and train every afternoon, remaining focused on the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Rodriguez’s efforts were recognised and she featured on the cover of TIME Magazine in July 2021.
PTWC Women – Melissa Nicholls (Great Britain)
A two-time Paralympian and endurance world record holder, Mel Nicholls is driven by adventure and her passion for sport. Nicholls has suffered a series of life changing strokes, with her third stroke in 2008 leaving her unable to walk without crutches and with limited use of her left side.
Four years after watching the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games from her hospital bed, Nicholls raced in front of an 80,000-strong crowd at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing.
Following a successful career in wheelchair racing, Nicholls made the switch to paratriathlon. After her introduction to the sport being interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she took part in her first paratriathlon event in the British Triathlon Super Series in Llanelli in May 2022. This was the start of a whirlwind few months for her. Three months later, she was lining up on the World Triathlon Para Series start line for the first time, finishing fourth at Volvo 2022 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea and only 21 seconds off a podium place.
Golds at World Triathlon Para Cup Alhandra and Europe Triathlon Para Cup Bari followed in September, before she finished fifth at her first World Triathlon Para Championships in Abu Dhabi in November.
No stranger to breaking boundaries, Nicholls set a world record in 2019 when handcycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats in under seven days and in 2021 took on an even bigger challenge, only a year after having a 5kg ovarian tumour removed. She handcycled 4,800 miles around the coast of the UK in 75 days unsupported – the furthest distance ridden by handcycle.
PTVI Men – Dave Ellis (Great Britain)
Back to defend his PTVI title in Swansea is Dave Ellis who is also on a mission to make it onto the podium in Paris next year. After his category wasn’t included in Rio 2016 and following a mechanical in Tokyo 2020 which forced him to withdraw, Ellis and his guide Luke Pollard couldn’t be more determined to make it to the podium at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Ellis took up paratriathlon in 2013 after attending a talent ID day and went on to win the European and World gold that year. The following year held as much success where he claimed a European silver and more recently, he won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Ellis has less than 10% vision and races with his guide Luke Pollard on all three disciplines of the paratriathlon race. He has a very strong swimming background, having been a member of an elite training group in Derby when he was younger and represented Great Britain in swimming at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
PTWC Men – Jetze Plat (Netherlands)
Jetze Plat has gone undefeated in World Triathlon events since 2016, when he won both the Paralympic and World Champion titles. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Plat won three Paralympic gold medals in two different sports. His Tokyo campaign began by defending his men’s PTWC paratriathlon title. Three days later in the road cycling he won the men’s H4 time trial and the following day secured gold in the men’s H4 road race.
Born with a shorter left upper leg and no ligaments in his left knee, his right lower leg and foot were amputated in 2008. Plat began competing in paratriathlon at the age of 13 and has been unstoppable ever since.
Plat also now features regularly on the podium in World Marathon Majors events, including the 2023 London Marathon where he finished in second place. Will Plat be able to go one better than Tokyo and compete in three events in Paris next year?
PTWC Women – Lauren Parker (Australia)
Lauren Parker suffered a serious accident while out training for IRONMAN triathlon in April 2017. After damaging her spinal cord, Parker made the decision to switch to paratriathlon, and her determination to return to racing saw her claim Commonwealth Games bronze in the PTWC category just 11 months after her accident.
18 months later, Parker became the 2019 Paratriathlon World Champion in Lausanne, Switzerland and in 2021 she defended this title to become a double World Champion and a silver medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Parker will be competing in both the 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea on 15 July and will race in the IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea the following day.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to witness the world’s best paratriathletes in action. Entry for spectators at the 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea is free.
