World Triathlon

The eyes of France were set today on the towering figure of Alexis Hanquinquant, a man that has won every single Para triathlon race he has started in the last seven years. And today it was not any different, just louder. Hanquinquant, flag bearer of the French team in the 2024 Paralympic Games, reigned supreme in Paris to claim his second Paralympic gold of his career. Silver on the day was for USA’s Carson Clough, one of the upcoming talents of the PTS4 class, while another rising star, Spain’s Nil Riudavets Victory rounded up the podium.

Now 38 years old, Hanquinquant knew that today he had a date with destiny, and the Frenchman delivered in am impressive way, cheered by the thousands of spectators that crowded the streets around Pont Alexandre III ready to see him doing his famous side kick when grabbing the finish tape.

Things were looking good for Hanquinquant from the beginning, delivering an impressive swim that saw him out of the water almost ten seconds ahead of Michael Taylor (GBR) and with another Frenchman, Gregoire Berthon, in third place.

The bike was another imperial march for Hanquinqant, opening a lead that was just impossible for anyone else on the field to close. By the time he had finished the five laps of the bike course on the cobblestones of the French capital, he had almost two minutes of clear space. Behind him, his two teammates Gregoire Berthon and Pierre-Antoine Baele were battling with USA’s Carson Clough for the two remaining spots on the podium.

Hanquinquant stormed through the second transition and started the run accompanied by the rar of the crowds, loud enough to clearly spot where he was at any point of the run course. The Frenchman made it to the blue carpet by himself, with nought time to enjoy the moment, clap some hands, grab a french flag and do his famous side-kick before grabbing the tape to claim the Paralympic gold.

“I’m super happy. This is incredible. It’s been a beautiful race. All the ingredients were there to make it work today. My family is here. It’s important to win in front of my family,” he said, after rossing the finish line. “Tokyo 2020 was amazing. It meant a lot for me to be able to pull it off and to get that gold there. I felt there was a very different mindset today because I already had a gold. The goal today was to perform. I knew I was the favourite, but I just wanted to perform as well as possible. I’m happy it led to gold. There was a lot of emotions today,” he explained.

Second on the line was Carson Clough (USA), on his Paralympic debut. “It was painful. I was dying out there on the swim, bike and run. So I was pretty stoked to get to the finish line. It’s been incredible. I have 50, 60 people that bought plane tickets to come watch me and support me and my teammates. I heard them at every different part of the track. When the last two laps on the bike got tough and I did a tiring run, I was just thinking of names and the people that couldn’t come and were still supporting me. Alexis earned what he’s got. He’s an incredible athlete. I did everything in my power to try and catch him. That would’ve been a fun little story. But he made it. I couldn’t do it. I got to give him kudos,” he said.

Bronze was for another Paralympic debutant, Nil Riudavets (ESP), who delivered an impressive run -ten seconds faster than Hanquinquant’s split- to claim the bronze medal. “It was really difficult. I was sixth when I finished the bike and then had to pass three great runners. I had run with a lot of concentration to make sure I would be as fast as possible. It was really fun to get the medal”, he explained.

The other frenchmen, Baele and Berthon, rounded the top five in fourth and fifth place respectively.