Hannah Moore claims vital victory on Paralympic quest

By Will Castle

Hannah Moore pushed to the absolute limit to pull off a vital victory in her quest for Paralympic qualification at the 2024 World Triathlon Para Series in Swansea.

Brits dominated the podium coming out of the PTS4 women’s race, with Megan Richter joining Moore with her second-place finish.

Rising to the occasion when it mattered most, Moore was able to claim gold in what was the penultimate race before the qualification window for Paris slams shut.

And as the Stalbridge native crossed the finish line, she knew everything she had put her body through had been worth it as she placed herself in a very favourable position in the rankings.

“It was that finish line feeling,” Moore said. “I feel good now, which is the main thing, but it's hard racing.

“I think as well when you swim in salt water, sometimes it gives you that taste in your mouth the whole time, so my stomach wasn't feeling great by the end, but it’s all good.

“I'm really happy, really excited to cross the finish line in first place with all my friends and family just screaming my name. It was so, so special and it made me very emotional.”

It was a bumper day of action in Wales, with the British Triathlon Paratri Super Series racing taking place ahead of the elite racing for developing paratriathletes.

Elsewhere in the PTS4 event, there were mixed emotions on the men’s side of things.
Finley Jakes finished eighth ahead of a pivotal race in Montreal but Michael Taylor put in a fantastic performance to finish second.

Taylor led for much of the race only for Carson Clough and Gregoire Berthon to edge him at the end of the run, before Berthon was disqualified and Taylor took plenty of encouragement from his silver medal.

“I went really well,” Taylor said. “I was really happy with my swim and my bike, I felt really good on there.

“I was just a bit disappointed with my second transition. Quite sad, I feel like I lost like 10 or 20 seconds there, which I think cost me the win there.

“I’m just very happy with that in general. All went pretty well and only little things to work on really.”

An event that kept sustainability at the heart - achieving Gold in World Triathlon’s Sustainability Certification - there was a lot happening around the racing, with the event village and Marina Market bustling with enthusiastic spectators.

Taylor was sure to soak up the atmosphere and was delighted to be able to compete in front of a home crowd.

He said: “It's been unreal, because sometimes at events like this you don't really get much people out, so it's nice to be here and actually have people on the course cheering us.

“It's been a great event and I just feel like it's run so smoothly. The organisation's been unreal so I'm very happy with that.”

World Triathlon Para Series Swansea welcomed some of the best paratriathletes in the world to swim, bike, run in South Wales. To start your journey in paratriathlon and find out more about the sport, visit https://www.britishtriathlon.org/paratriathlontalentid