Bahrain Victorious 13 athletes claimed a world title and twin vice world championships over the weekend at the World Triathlon Championship races in Pontevedra, Spain.
Lauren Parker claimed an astounding fourth paratriathlon world title on Saturday. The Australian crafted a wire-to-wire victory with a field-leading swim and dominant handcycle leg to start the run segment with nearly two minutes’ lead. She then kept Paralympic gold medalist Kendall Gretsch at bay, beating the American to the finish with 40 seconds to spare.
This is Parker’s 8th world title overall, counting her past World Triathlon titles, Ironman and Ironman 70.3 championships, as well as the UCI paracycling world championship she won in August.
Cassandre Beaugrand took bronze in the women’s individual triathlon and secured an overall silver finish in the World Triathlon Championship Series. The Olympic bronze medalist and super sprint world champion from France was in the pointy end from the gun and fought hard to finish just 39 seconds shy of first. This is a career-best series finish for Beaugrand and bodes well leading into Paris 2024.
Hayden Wilde finished 10th on the day among the men to claim silver overall. The super sprint world champion and Olympic bronze medalist came out of the swim just 20 seconds back from the lead group and rode in the first chase group. Despite losing precious time on the run serving a 15-second penalty for a dropped swim cap, the Kiwi put on a valiant effort to improve on last year’s bronze series finish.
Henri Schoeman finished 17th on the day, aided by the day’s fourth-best swim and riding in the front pack. This result lifts the South African two spots to finish the year ranked 19th.
This weekend will see Wilde and Schoeman back in action with the Bahrain Victorious Scorpions at the Super League Triathlon Championship Series race in Malibu. With two races left in the series, the Scorpions currently ranked second will need to race hard for every last point to defend their title.
