News

Para Triathlon

The 2024 World Triathlon Para Championships took place on Friday October 18th in Torremolinos, Spain. Ireland was represented in three para triathlon categories with Tom Williamson in the Men’s PTS5, Donnacha McCarthy and guide Sean Husband in the Men’s PTVI, and Judith MacCombe and guide Eimear Nicholls in the Women’s PTVI.

Tom Williamson brought home a strong 5th place to round out a strong 12 months of international racing. Williamson led the race out of the water, closely followed by Portugal’s Filipe Marques, with Australia’s Jack Howell just seconds behind the pair. The three battled hard across the 14-lap bike course as Canadian athlete Stefan Daniel fought to close the gap. Williamson maintained a strong position finishing 2nd on the bike as he entered T2. The final run determined his place in the top 5 in the world, with an overall time of 01:01:30. The result closes out a strong season of racing for Williamson with 6 podiums from 11 international starts, including a bronze medal at European Championships.

Donnacha McCarthy and guide Sean Husband crossed the finish line to secure 7th place in the world, their best result at a World Championship event since Rotterdam in 2017. The pair were in chasing position after the swim, looking to claw back time on the bike and the run. They have since described their season as “arguably, the toughest season we’ve endured in Paratriathlon” acknowledging “the standard of competition in our classification is next level and constantly evolving which pushes us, as a pairing, to strive for greatness and always aim high.”

In the Women’s PTVI, Judith MacCombe and guide Eimear Nicholls claimed Ireland’s best result of the championships, with 4th place – just 5 seconds from the podium.

Having exited the water in 10th position, the duo had a 90-second to two-minute gap to reduce on the race leaders. The pair blasted through the bike and run course to leave their mark with the fastest splits in both. The result is another impressive performance to round out a significant year for the pair.

Elite Women & Junior Men

In the Elite field, Elizabeth Carr was in action at her first World Triathlon Championships Final since her U23 experience in Rotterdam in 2017. Carr finished a whirlwind season with 44th against the World’s best over the Olympic distance course. The race was ultimately won by Olympic Champion, Cassandre Beaugrand.

The Junior Men’s race saw Mathys Bocquet finish in 45th position in a large field. The result sees him jump 21 places from his outing at the Junior Men’s World Championships in 2023, a sure sign of the progress he has continued to make throughout the past 12 months.

Ireland was also well represented at age group level with a number of athletes travelling to compete in both the Sprint and Standard distances races.