all to play for heading into the winter break for Ireland's Paratriathletes

Race Starts Crucial

The calendar for 2024 currently has 7 events counting towards Paris rankings, 3 World Para Cups and 4 World Para Series races, with the Para Series scoring 100 points more for a win. As we close in on the end of the qualification period expect gaining an entry to a race to get more difficult as athletes and countries chase points and those holding slots look to maintain their position and ensure they are not passed.

With limited starts available it doesn't take much to change the rankings significantly. A puncture for a top ranked athlete and an off day for another can open up the scoring down the line. An athlete who has chosen to miss an event can suddenly see a competitor for their quota slot take 2nd place instead of 4th. Choosing which events to travel to can be as much about who else is entered as your own preferred program. If the world's top 5 all start you can be reasonably confident that most of the big scores are safe, but if they don't travel anything can happen. 

Ireland holding 2 quota slots

Currently I would be very confident of the 2 slots Ireland currently hold. 1 in the PTVI women and another in the PTS4 women. With her average score of 440 points, and only 450 for a World Cup win, It would take significant improvements from a lot of athletes for more than a couple to pass Chloe MacCombe in 5th place, and she herself is likely to improve. Curzilat of France, currently 7th, was 3rd in the world Championships and likely will score heavily next year but MacCombe should hold off most others. The top 9 secure slots for the country in PTVI and Judith MacCombe stands 10th, and having shown in the last 2 weekends her potential, she may be able to gain another slot. Hopefully both the MacCombes secure slots as it would be a tough selection meeting in July should there be just one available with little to separate them, or their guides, Catherine Sands and Eimear Nicholls, on current form.

The PTS4 class has 14 places in Paris but 5 of those are reserved for PTS3 athletes based on results against S4 athletes. All the times of each event are pooled to give the placings for Paris ranking.  Cassie Cava was fastest in Malaga across both classifications and 4th in Taranto and is the 4th ranked S3 athlete overall. Despite only 2 counting scores she actually looks quite secure in that position and one more World Cup score, particularly if the top S4 athletes don't compete, should be enough. 

Down to the wire

Donnacha McCarthy, in the PTVI class, along with is guide Sean Husband, is right on the edge, 1 place out of the quota slots, only 10 points off 9th. One big day in a World Series race could make all the difference with less than 100 points separating 9th from 13th.  McCarthy did not race in Taranto and looking at the results it's a race he might have won but this is the difficulty of managing a global season, you have to stop somewhere after a year racing on 4 continents. Oliver Gunning is probably too far down the rankings to qualify a slot this time around, 2028 much more likely for him, but could still play a part in deciding who does go to Paris. With 7 races currently on the calendar if McCarthy does not want to race them all then entering him but substituting Gunning, if he's available, into the start slot could prevent another athlete from starting, scoring and possibly passing McCarthy, while giving Gunning further opportunities to score himself. It's a complicated game sometimes and this will likely go to the final weekend of racing.  

Emerging talent

Tom Williamson has emerged in just 2 weekends of racing as a viable contender in the PTS5 class. He followed up 6th in his 1st international with 2nd in Taranto ahead of athletes in the TOP 10 of the rankings. With only 2 from a possible 3 scoring events completed he currently stands 20th and another 300 point score would take him close to the contenders for the final slot. He is only going to get better over the winter and it may be that only a lack of starts can stop him gaining a slot. His world ranking, on which start lists are based, is 26th and that may be a problem as everyone ahead of him looks to maximise their opportunities in the run up to the July 1st deadline. 

In an ever increasing field of athletes, that is deeper than ever in quality, for Ireland to have a real chance at 5 slots is impressive. Converting more than 2 will be hard but the talent is there. 

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