Paris Paralympic champion Lauren Parker claimed the bronze medal at the World Triathlon Para Championships at Torremolinos in Andalucia, Spain on Friday, ending a winning streak that had begun three years ago after the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The multiple world para champion led out of the water, but lost time in the swim-to-bike transition. She had only just managed to draw even with Jessica Ferreira on the bike before a determined Kendall Gretsch overhauled them both into the bike-to-run transition. Parker held off the rest of the field as she completed the podium behind the two athletes she had beaten 15 consecutive times prior.
Having scheduled a well-deserved break post-Paris, Parker only had under her belt as any semblance of training the UCI Paracycling Road World Championships three weeks ago, where she won time trial silver.
“I'm very proud of the effort I gave, but I regret having five weeks off,” she said post-race. “It was a tough one without any training, but my goal was to be a Paralympic champion this year and this was just going to be a bonus race.”
Joking about being unable to retire after this performance, the Australian looked back on her streak, saying, “It’s been a really tough three years and I’ve gone through stuff that no one knows about and it’s been a real challenge to keep going and to be at every race and win 15 straight races. I don’t know how I did it, really. It’s emotional thinking about it, but yes, I’m proud of myself.”
She added, “I’m happy I turned up today to defend the title. I would have regretted it if I were watching it on the TV screen. And like I said the other day, the girls have to beat me to become world champion and that's what Kendall did today.”
More racing is on the table for Bahrain Victorious 13 as Cassandre Beaugrand, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Kate Waugh line up for the World Triathlon Championship Series Grand Final today. The men compete tomorrow with Hayden Wilde, Vincent Luis, and Max Stapley starting in Spain, while Alistair Brownlee, Max Neumann, and Henri Schoeman are set to race the Las Vegas T100 Triathlon.
