Paratriathlon

U.S. Elite Paratriathletes Norman, Seely, Gretsch Win 2024 Para World Titles, U.S. Wins First Para Mixed Relay World Title

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by USA Triathlon

TORREMOLINOS, SPAIN — U.S. Elite Paratriathletes Grace Norman (Bloomington, Ind.), Allysa Seely (Glendale, Ariz.) and Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.) won world titles on Friday, Oct. 18 at the 2024 World Triathlon Para World Championships in Torremolinos, Spain.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic gold medalist, Norman came to Spain looking for her third consecutive World Title. She delivered.

Battling the Great Britain duo of Claire Cashmore and Lauren Steadman, Norman faced a deficit coming out of the first transition as the two Brits established a 20-plus second lead over Norman through the first lap of the bike.

Norman clawed her way back, claiming the lead in the second half of the bike. Steadman, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medalist, hovered over half a minute back from Norman, while Cashmore was only 5 seconds back. Norman then slammed the door on her rivals by setting a ferocious pace on the run.

She held a 27-second gap by midway of the 5k run and cruised to her third consecutive World Title — and fifth overall — in a time of 1 hour, 7 minutes, 5 seconds.

“It’s been a challenging year but I’ve grown a lot as a person and as an athlete. A win is a win and I’m proud of it,” Norman said. “It’s my fifth world title but each one has its own journey with it and it’s still a delightful feeling to cross in first.”

Seely dominated the women’s PTS2 race, crusing to her fifth Para World Championship Title. She led the swim and did not look back from there, building over a 3-minute lead on the bike.

“It’s been a pretty fun year so I’m glad to finish it on top,” Seely said. “The past two years have had more challenges than I’ve wanted to have, but I’m proud of the way I’ve conducted myself and never given up.”

Gretsch won gold in the women's PTWC race, getting redemption over her rival, Australia's Lauren Parker, who won Paralympic gold this summer in Paris.

“I just knew I didn’t have my best race in Paris so this was a race for myself. There was so much work that went into Paris so I just wanted to have a race that reflected all the work that went into it," Gretsch said of her fourth world title. "I’m so happy with today’s race and I feel like this was my best race.”

(Photo by World Triathlon)

World Para Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships #

The U.S. team of Paris 2024 Paralympic medalists Grace Norman, Kendall Gretsch and Carson Clough won the first-ever edition of the World Para Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships in Torremolinos on Sunday, Oct. 20.

Contested as a test race at the 2022 and 2023 WTCS Finals, Sunday's event was the first time the World Title over the Mixed Relay was up for grabs. And the race delivered drama, showing spectators what a competition this format presents.

Athletes in the Para Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships completed a 125m swim, a single 3.4km bike lap and a run of 850m. Teams are made up of four athletes from different para classifications, two male, two female, however, teams were allowed to compete with three athletes so long as the athlete doubling up on legs was the only team member of their gender. The Para Triathlon Mixed Relay format thus pits athletes from different classifications racing each other, creating a dynamic, intriguing clash of talents and gear specifications.

Team USA got off to a flying start courtesy of Gretsch. In a superb opening leg, with a total time of 14:16, Gretsch put almost 2 minutes into her rival Lauren Parker, Team Australia’s 2024 Paralympic champion.

Clough then completed the first of his two legs, the Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medalist racing a split of 13:32 to keep the U.S. about half a minute in the lead, with Great Britain and France threatening.

Clough tagged to Norman, who kept the U.S. in the clear, recording a split of 14:26 to extend the lead to 90 seconds.

Enter Clough as the anchor, racing his second leg of the day following a whopping 14-minute rest.

Remarkably, Clough race an identical swim split in his second dip in the sea (2:04). His second effort on the bike was also nearly identical to his split from his first leg (5:36 versus 5:35).

But lurking behind was Dave Ellis of Great Britain who out-split Clough by 16 seconds in the swim and another 22 seconds on the bike. Ellis had Clough in his sights on the blue carpet, but Clough summoned a final sprint, driving for home to capture gold and the first World Title in the World Para Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships.

RESULTS

2024 World Triathlon Para Championships Torremolinos-Andalucia

Complete Results

PTWC Men

1. Jetze Plat (NED), 56:39

2. Florian Brungraber (AUT), 58:52

3. Thomas Fruehwirth (AUT), 59:17

U.S. Finishers

6. Howie Sanborn (Denver, Colo.), 1:04:51

PTWC

1. Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.), 1:07:31

2. Jessica Ferreira (BRA), 1:07:45

3. Lauren Parker (AUS), 1:08:57

U.S. Finishers

6. Emelia Perry (Philadelphia, Pa.), 1:10:37

9. Skyler Fisher (), 1:18:21

PTS2 Men

1. Wim De Paepe (BEL), 1:09:46

2. Vasilii Egorov (AIN), 1:11:03

3. Lionel Morales (ESP), 1:11:37

U.S. Finishers

6. Kyle Stepp (), 1:19:40

PTS2 Women

1. Allysa Seely (Glendale, Ariz.), 1:19:23

2. Emma Juaisca Rodriguez (VEN), 1:25:03

3. Yukako Hata (JPN), 1:29:32

PTS3 Men

1. Henry Brand (GBR), 1:08:16

2. Daniel Molina (ESP), 1:09:06

3. Max Gelhaar (GER), 1:09:51

PTS3 Women

1. Elise Marc (FRA), 1:16:44

2. Sanne Koopman (NED), 1:34:53

3. Liina Nuoranne (FIN), 1:45:04

PTS4 Men

1. Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA), 59:56

2. Nil Riudavets Victory (ESP), 1:01:47

3. Pierre-Antoine Baele (FRA), 1:02:19

U.S. Finishers

4. Carson Clough (Charlotte, N.C.), 1:02:35

PTS4 Women

1. Marta Frances Gomez (ESP), 1:17:15

2. Camille Seneclauze (FRA), 1:17:25

3. Sally Pilbeam (AUS), 1:18:17

PTS5 Men

1. Stefan Daniel (CAN), 59:26

2. Jack Howell (AUS), 1:00:13

3. Filipe Marques (POR), 1:00:43

U.S. Finishers

4. Chris Hammer (Gilbert, Ariz.), 1:01:22

PTS5 Women

1. Grace Norman (Bloomington, Ind.), 1:07:05

2. Claire Cashmore (GBR), 1:08:28

3. Lauren Steadman (GBR), 1:10:03

U.S. Finishers

9. Michelle Dynes (), 1:26:14

PTVI Men

1. Dave Ellis (GBR), 58:54

2. Thibaut Rigaudeau (FRA), 59:22

3. Antoine Perel (FRA), 1:00:18

U.S. Finishers

10. Irwin Ramirez (), 1:14:54

PTVI Women

1. Susana Rodriguez (ESP), 1:05:47

2. Francesca Tarantella (ITA), 1:07:31

3. Leticia Freitas (BRA), 1:07:45

World Para Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships

1. United States, 57:13

2. Great Britain, 57:16

3. Spain, 57:52

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