Moore powers to silver in Swansea at World Triathlon Para Series

By Abi Curran

Hannah Moore won a hard-fought silver medal in the PTS4 category aquathlon race at the World Triathlon Para Series in Swansea.

The Dorset paratriathlete won one of six British medals in front of a home crowd on the world stage as the Welsh city hosted the event for the second time.

Moore was pipped by American Emma Meyers by just eight seconds as the tense race went to the wire.

In the interests of athlete safety, both races were declared aquathlons after adverse weather forced the bike discipline to be cancelled.

She said: “I’m really happy, it was a pretty close race, probably the closest race I've ever been in.

“I felt I had a really good swim, which was my main aim for the race once I knew the bike was going to be taken out.”

“When you are doing a triathlon you look at the overall result so with the aquathlon it gave me a main focus of seeing where my swim is at.

“It was really good to see that so many people had come out to support us even though the weather wasn’t great.

“It was really good when I was being caught slightly on the run, so it kept me fighting until the very end which was good.

“For me it’s really exciting, I've had a bit of a gap in my racing but to be back up there with some of the best athletes in the world is really exciting and it gives me the sense of the opportunities that are ahead going into Paris next year.”

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

Elsewhere, British pair Michael Taylor and Finley Jakes ended in sixth and ninth place in a competitive men’s PTS4 aquathlon race as Jakes finished with a season-best on home turf.

The 23-year-old put the woes of Montreal behind him where he finished ninth last week and remained positive.

Jakes held onto sixth with 30:45 after coming back from a below-par transition.

Jakes said: “I’m really happy with that compared to Swansea last year, it could’ve been better, but I just couldn’t get my wetsuit off out of the water.

“Generally, I’m a lot happier than I was in Montreal and I’m looking forward to getting back into training and improving for Worlds in September.

“I probably took a bit of anger out on the water specifically, but I just really wanted to attack the race as much as I could, and I feel like I did that today apart from the mishap on transition.”

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/