The first Para Triathlon Series event of 2022 gets underway in Yokohama, Japan, this weekend, featuring Paralympic gold medallists from Tokyo 2020 and rising stars hoping to plot a route to Paris 2024.
World Triathlon notes that the 750m harbour swim transitions into a 20km bike through the city streets, with tight turns around the Kanagawa government building and in front of the city’s iconic ferris wheel across the four laps. The run will be a three-lap 5km for all but the racing wheelchairs, that will take a single lap to the finish.
Fans can watch the action live and on-demand on TriathlonLive.tv.
- The men’s PTWC will be a battle for the medals between USA’s Howie Sanborn H1, Australia’s Nic Beveridge H1, Dutchman Brendan Bischoff H2 and local favourite Jumpei Kimura H1.
- The women’s wheelchair category will be a battle for the podium positions between Brazil’s Jessica Ferreira H1, Magret Ijdema H1 of the Netherlands and Canadian Leanne Taylor H1.
- It is hard to look beyond another gold for current World and Olympic Champion Alexis Hanquinquant in the men’s PTS4 race, though Brazil’s Jorge Luis Fonseca and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Hideki Uda (JPN) will look to put the pressure on. The women’s race sees Carmen Gonzalez Sanchez (ESP) and USA’s Kelly Worrell battle it out for the honours.
- In the women’s PTS5 race, the USA’s Rio 2016 Olympic Champion and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Grace Norman goes in as favourite, with Ukraine’s Alisa Kolpakchy hoping to summon the kind of big performance that saw her to bronze in Abu Dhabi in November. World Duathlon and Cross Triathlon Para Champion Cristina Miranda Zambrano also makes her WTPS debut.
- The men’s PTS5 looks set to be a contest with Brazilian duo Ronan Cordeiro and Carlos Rafael Viana. The Paralympic silver medallist George Peasgood (GBR) is also among the pre-race favourites with young Hungarian Bence Mocsari ready to make an impact.
- The women’s PTVI race will boast Paralympic Champion Susana Rodriguez B1 up against 2019 Worlds bronze medallist Jessica Tuomela B1. A deep men’s field has USA’s Kyle Coon B1 ready for a big campaign, going up against the likes of Jonathan Goerlach B3 (AUS) Jose Garcia B1 (ESP) and Anatolii Varfolomieiev B1 (UKR).
- The PTS2 men sees Lionel Morales (ESP) and Mohamed Lahna (USA) go head-to-head with Melissa Stockwell the sole female in the category. Another Spaniard, the experienced Kini Carrasco, will be taking on Justin Godfrey (AUS) for this year’s men’s PTS3 title.
