Triathlon to make thrilling Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 on Copacabana beach
Action-packed races are guaranteed in September when competitors in four categories run, swim and ride their way to glory in Rio
Iraq war veteran and Rio 2016 triathlon contender Melissa Stockwell was the first female American soldier in history to lose a limb in active combat (Photo: Getty Images/Sandra Mu)
Triathlon is making its debut as a Paralympic sport at Rio 2016, in the spectacular and challenging setting of Copacabana beach.
In the Olympic Games, large crowds turned out to cheer on competitors in the women's and men's events, and the Paralympic triathlon competition looks set to be one of the surefire highlights of Rio 2016.
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The events will start and end around historic Fort Copacabana, with a 750m swim segment. The 20km bike ride and 5km run will take place along Avenida Atlântica, the road which runs alongside world-famous Copacabana beach.
The races will take place on Saturday 10 September and Sunday 11.
Spectator's guide to the Paralympic triathlon at Rio 2016
There will be races for four classes of Paralympians: PT1 for wheelchair users, PT2 for people with severe impairments such as double amputees, PT4 for milder impairments such as below-the-elbow amputations and PT5 for the visually impaired, who will compete with a guide and use a tandem bicycle.
Clashes of champions
In all classes in Rio, there will be some intriguing showdowns between top para athletes.
In the men's PT4 category, Germany’s Martin Schulz has dominated racing for the past two years, winning every single triathlon event he competed in between June 2013 and September 2015. However, Canadian teenager Stefan Daniel stunned the triathlon world at the 2015 para triathlon world championships in Chicago, where he defeated Schulz.
A former swimmer, Schulz’s main goal since that shock defeat has been to improve his running and cycling in order to climb back to the top of the podium at Rio 2016. Schulz has bounced back this year by winning all three races he has competed in.
As well as Schulz and Daniel, veteran racer Yannick Bourseaux from France should also be in contention in Rio.
In the women's PT4 race, an almighty clash is expected between Great Britain’s Lauren Steadman, who competed at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 as a swimmer and won the 2015 triathlon world championship, and Grace Norman, the 2016 world champion from the USA.
The USA is likely to dominate the women's PT2 event. The US trio of Allysa Seely, Hailey Danisewicz and Melissa Stockwell went one-two-three, respectively, at the 2015 world championship in Chicago.
Hailey Danisewicz competed in the test event in Rio de Janeiro last year (Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)
The three athletes have different backgrounds – Stockwell was injured during the war in Iraq, Danisewicz is a cancer survivor and Seely is a college student with an undiagnosed illness – and are all going for the ultimate prize in the sport.
While the spotlight will be on the US athletes, joker in the pack could well be France’s Elise Marc, the current world no.3.
