TRIATHLON

Paratriathletes selected to debut at Paralympics

By International Triathlon Union

ITU is proud to announce that 17 paratriathletes from 11 National Federations have been selected by the ITU Bipartite Selection Panel to participate at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. In its debut at the Paralympics, a total of 60 athletes will race for Paralympic gold on September 10-11 in the women’s PT2, PT4 and PT5, as well as the men’s PT1, PT2 and PT4 sport classes.

During the Paralympic qualification period, seven men and women in each sport class ensured their nations would be represented on Copacabana Beach. As one of the slots was already allocated for host nation Brazil in the women’s PT4 sport class, the 17 remaining athletes were invited by the Bipartite Panel.

With excellence of performance the primary driver in reviewing applications for Paralympic selection, the Panel this week selected the following athletes to compete in Rio:

PT1 Men - Phil Hogg (GBR), Jumpei Kimura (JPN), Nic Beveridge (AUS)
PT2 Women - Melissa Stockwell (USA)
PT2 Men - Stefan Loesler (GER), Giovanni Sasso (ITA), Lionel Morales (ESP)
PT4 Women - Claire Mclean (AUS), Patricia Collins (USA), Clare Cunningham(GBR)
PT4 Men - Maxime Maurel (FRA), George Peasgood (GBR), Jack Swift (AUS), Alexander Yalchik (RUS)
PT5 Women - Atsuko Yamada (JPN), Christine Robbins (CAN), Catherine Walsh (IRL)

Following IPC’s recommendations to debut the most competitive paratriathlon races possible, ITU opted not to fill the quota in the Women’s PT2 sport class. Rather, that event will see eight women compete with the two extra slots reallocated for the most populated sports class - PT4. Each gender will receive one additional spot making the final quota at the Paralympics 31 men and 29 women.

National Paralympic Committees have until July 22 to confirm the use of allocated qualification and Bipartite slots.