Where are the medals coming from this weekend?

European Paratriathlon Championships

Tom Williamson looks to be the favourite to secure the highest placing going into the PTS5 race having beaten most of the Europeans this year, including an excellent 2nd place behind Australian Jack Howell in the World Para Series race in Taranto last weekend where he outran all the European Athletes. Only Martin Schulz seems to be ahead of him at this time with a higher run level. While racing is unpredictable if everything goes to form there doesn't seem to be anyone else in the race at Williamson's level this year.

Judith Maccombe looks next best placed racing with Eimear Nicholls who has established herself as one of the premier Guides on the circuit. Why the Guides do not get the names on the result sheets is still a mystery to me as they are an integral part of the team effort. Simply put if the Guide isn't good enough it does not matter how good the athlete is and indeed the para athlete can never reach their full potential in a race. Nicholls at her best was always a good enough bike rider and runner to compete as an Elite at a very high level and only ever lacked a little critical swim speed to take on Europe Cup level racing and above. She will outswim and outrun all but the very best single sport para athletes in the current field, which is really mandatory for a guide, and is a strong bike rider with good technical ability. The pairing come into this race having finished 3rd in Taranto behind Rodriguez and Tarantello. 

Beating Rodriguez at any point is a hard ask. As a B1 athlete Rodriguez starts each race 2 minutes 51 seconds ahead of all the B2 and B3 athletes including the Maccombe twins. She then also puts time into them in the swim, has a strong bike and good run so bringing back 4 minutes or more on the bike and run will always be difficult. Tarantello appears to be the best swimmer in the field and runs well, along with her guide of course. Maccombe and Nichols did put time into her on the bike last week but are still around 2 minutes behind on overall expected time. A medal though is a distinct possibility.

Chloe Maccombe has a new guide this weekend in Aisling Wyer. You wouldn't plan to have a new pairing with limited time together going into a major championship but Wyer is currently ranked 7th on the mytriranking national rankings, and only behind Becky Woods among those not racing Elite. You have to be realistic and understand there will be a huge learning curve and anything close to the top 3 would be a major achievement.

Donnacha McCarthy and Sean Husband have their second international race of the season as they start their road to LA. This is another high quality field headed by the usual names, Dave Ellis and Thibaut Rigaudeau, backed up with athletes who were in the chase along with the Irish team for the final spots in Paris. The Irish pair were down the field in Taranto but looked to have a solid race plan just let down by the run. They will have Antoine Perel starting with them as the B1 pairings which may impact how they approach the race. 

Europe Triathlon Cup Wels

Meanwhile in Austria a large group of Junior and senior athletes are racing in the Europe Triathlon Cup in Wels.  Senen McDonnell and Ethan Doherty go in the Junior men's race while Hollie Elliott, Ralf Bodamer and Jonathan Oakey go in the Elite races. 

Elliott will be expected to go close in this race after her 5th place in Poland recently. The field is headed by 4 German athletes and Elliott was only 16 seconds behind Franka Rust, the 2nd ranked of the German team, in Poland. The course is characterised by a very fast downstream swim, mixed roads including wide main road and very tight residential areas with tight corners and a deceptively hard run.

Jonathan Oakey set himself up really well in Poland but struggled on the run. This course should suit him to get in position again. I am not expecting him to have transformed his run in the meantime but some incremental improvements over time can help him capitalise on his swim and bike. 

Ralf Bodamer is undoubtedly one of the top Irish athletes but it can be seen from his absence on the Irish rankings that he has no scores from Sprint or Standard distance races over the last year, although it has to be acknowledged the system does not cover all races. I am really looking forward to where he starts the run in particular as he certainly has the pace to put himself, like Oakey, in a position to have a good result. This is a nice level of event to show us where he is form wise with important events coming up and places on relay teams to be won later.

Senan McDonnell was dominant, as wanted from the Junior Internationals, in the Fastnet Sprint last weekend. Fastest on the swim and only beaten by one other on the bike, while riding a road bike, he looks to be in a good place going into this race. Based in UL he should be getting the competitive environment to bring him forward and this will be a nice test. Ethan Doherty’s last race on the system was Cork last year so we have no information to go on for him. His swim time in Cork was very close to getting him in touch with the leading Irish athletes that day and again we will find out more about how he is developing at UL in this race.

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