British paratriathlete Urand makes world stage debut

By Abi Curran

PTS3 paratriathlete Henry Urand managed his debut on the world stage with grace as he finished in eighth place at the World Triathlon Para Series in Swansea.

The Loughborough University student ran out in front of a home crowd who roared him home on the blue carpet.

Spaniard Daniel Molina took first place with a time of 32:29 as Nico Van Burgt of The Netherlands and Max Galhaar of Germany completed the podium.

The Tri Series was a chance for elite athletes to collect valuable points towards Paralympic qualification.

In the interests of athlete safety, the race was declared an aquathlon after adverse weather forced the bike discipline to be cancelled.

Urand finished the swim, his weakest part of the event, nine minutes behind leader Molina but did not let the gap get wider in the 5km run.

He said: “It was pretty brutal. When I found out it was going to be an aquathlon I was pretty rattled, swimming is my weakest part and obviously, it’s a big component of the race and I was looking forward to the bike.

“I’m disappointed with my swim but hopefully that will come with time and it’s only my fourth multisport event so I’m still really new and learning lots every time.

“I felt okay on the run, and I think it was a strong one so I can’t be too disappointed.

“It’s my first World Series event, it’s a home event and it’s just been wicked.”

The amateur Super Series and the Splash and Dash events saw seasoned triathlon campaigners and complete aquathlon beginners take part before the national stars got underway.

Urand, who feels most comfortable on the bike with a background in road and track cycling, put the disruption on the day behind him as he was cheered to the finish by the Swansea crowd.

“I was looking forward to the bike course, but I was nervous as always and it was great to have that extra support to get me over the line today.

“It was a wall of noise after the swim, but coming down the blue carpet at the end is wicked to see so many faces that I’ve met in such a short space of time.

“National Champs gives me a month to sort out my swim and hopefully some World events at the end of the season.”

2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea provided opportunities for people with disabilities to explore swim, bike, run on Saturday 15 July. You can find out more about opportunities to get involved with paratriathlon at https://www.britishtriathlon.org/