Australia’s top para triathletes kicked their season off in style, securing seven gold medals at the World Triathlon Para Series Devonport.
26 para athletes from nations including Australia, Spain, Greece and Japan started their WTPS season in Devonport, on an action packed weekend of racing in the Tasmanian city.
Despite being the only athlete in the women’s PWTC field, Lauren Parker (PTWC) was racing against herself and the clock, eager to pick up where she left off at the Paris Paralympic Games.
The 36-year-old had a grin that went from one ear to the other, as she reflected on today’s win.
“It was really good, this is the best race to start the season, and I’m really happy with my performance,” Parker said.
“I wasn’t sure where I was going to be at, in terms of my power output and overall time. But I did better than expected, I felt really good out there – it was a really good swim and I pushed it on the bike like a time trial,” she said.
Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Parker said there’s a lot of racing coming up for her and her team, as she continues to work towards the 2025 World Championships.
“I’ve got a full race schedule for the rest of the year, I’ll do the rest of the World Triathlon Series races…I might even chuck in a Challenge Roth in there, we’ll see,” Parker said.
“All the main races and World Champs later in the year of course,” she said.
Paris Paralympians Grace Brimelow (PTS4), Anu Francis (PTS2), Jack Howell (PTS5), Jeremy Peacock (PTS4), Thomas Goodman (PTS2) and Sam Harding (PTVI) – alongside Aaron Royle (Guide) got their seasons off to a winning start on home soil.
For Howell, today’s win sets up what he’s hoping will be a long and successful season 2025.
“It was pretty hard going, I had to set the pace early…with a few less athletes this year, I had to really bring the race, and race myself,” Howell said.
“It hurt, which is good, definitely can’t say that it was an easy win. But I’m really happy to get another win, I always love winning here,” he said.
Today’s racing conditions were ideal for Howell, although he admitted that the wind did make things tricky on the bike and run legs.
“The swim was the fastest swim I’ve ever done in Devonport, usually you can expect a bit of surf, so it was nice to go fast on the flat water,” Howell said.
“Definitely on the bike and the run, going west, you could feel that wind and it makes you work hard that’s for sure,” he said.
For full results from today’s World Triathlon Para Series Devonport – click here
Tomorrow, Saturday 15 March, Devonport will host the 2025 Oceania Triathlon Junior Championships and 2025 Oceania Triathlon Championships. For the start lists – click here
