Pair of Canadians score podium finishes at Paratriathlon World Championships
Stefan Daniel wins 5th World Championship title, Kamylle Frenette takes bronze
The maple leaf found its way onto the podium twice at the 2022 Paratriathlon World Championships in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Stefan Daniel claimed the fifth World Championship of his career in the standing classification. The Calgary native managed a time of 58:24, earning him the gold medal.
"I was pretty emotional crossing the line today. It's been a year building back my love for the sport," said Daniel, who has been working his way back to elite form from injury. "To cap it off this way is unbelievable and something I did not expect."
The five-time world champion fell to third by the end of the 750-metre swim but managed to find his way back to the front of the pack on the 20 kilometre bike after which he never relinquished the lead.
Daniel maintained his distance from the rest of the field through the five-kilometre run to the finish line, beating silver medallist Martin Schulz by 49 seconds.
In addition to his now five world championship titles, Daniel has two Paralympic medals, one silver and one bronze.
Frenette claims 1st podium
The second medallist for Canada was Kamylle Frenette, of Dieppe, N.B., who found herself on the world championships podium for the first time after winning bronze.
"I executed the swim as planned and was able to hold on to the top girls," Frenette said. "I surprised myself on the bike and managed to keep in contact with them. The run was tough, but that's triathlon."
Frenette had previously missed the podium by one spot on numerous occasions coming fourth in her previous two world championship starts and in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Frenette and fellow Canadian medallist Daniel both fall into the PTS5 classification, which is the category for athletes affected to a low degree in one leg, a moderate level in both forearms, a high degree in one foot and ankle, or have absence of limbs.
In the sitting classification, Leanne Taylor of Winnipeg came up one spot short of her first world championship podium, placing fourth with a time of 1:13:32.
"I'm really happy to come fourth at worlds. It is a huge improvement from last year," Taylor said. "Of course to be just shy of the podium is a little disappointing but this is only going to make me more hungry."
Taylor is classified as a PTWC athlete, which is for athletes who are either permanent wheelchair users or who would need to use a wheelchair to compete in triathlon.
