GB Paratriathlon team announced for Paris 2024

Wondering who will take to the streets of Paris to represent Team GB in the Paralympic Games? Well, the wait is over, as the GB paratriathlon squad for the 2024 Paris Paralympics has just been announced.

The team of eleven paratriathletes and three guides will compete in Paris on Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd September, on what will be a truly iconic course in the heart of the French capital. 

Tokyo champion Lauren Steadman (Women’s PTS5) is named in the squad as she looks to defend her title. In the same classification Claire Cashmore will represent ParalympicsGB for the sixth time in search of her tenth medal. Cashmore came home from Tokyo with bronze from her first Games as a paratriathlete having previously competed in para-swimming.

Steadman defending gold

Speaking on her fifth Paralympic Games selection, Steadman said: “It feels super exciting to be selected for my fifth Games. I am very honoured to fly the flag for British Triathlon and ParalympicsGB again and will do everything within my power to defend my gold medal.
 
“It’s just really exciting that if there was a little Lauren who was 14 years old starting her journey again, how proud she would be of the Lauren stepping up to go and race in Paris. 
 
“I’m very, very excited and I hope that the legacy I can leave behind is not just of great sporting achievements but also that if anyone who dares to believe, dares to dream, they can have the career that they’d love to.”

Find out more about Lauren Steadman.

Returns and debuts

Six-time World champion, Dave Ellis (Men’s PTVI), will race with long-term guide Luke Pollard. The pair will be looking to add to their World and Commonwealth champion status having suffered a DNF as a result of a mechanical failure on their bike in Tokyo. 

Find out more about Dave Ellis.
 
Also returning to once again compete at the Paralympics will be Rio 2016 silver medallist Alison Peasgood in the women’s PTVI classification, alongside her guide Brooke Gillies. Peasgood, who finished fourth in Tokyo, will be racing in Paris having given birth to her first child in August 2023, with Gillies making her Games debut. 
 
Looking ahead to her third Games, Peasgood commented: “It’s been such an emotional rollercoaster to get to this point of qualifying for my third games. When I was holding my tiny baby in my arms last August, I didn’t know how it was all going to be possible.  
 
“It’s taken a village to get me to this point and I’m grateful to all of them for their support. I am looking forward to representing ParalympicsGB alongside my amazing guide Brooke. Not sure what my son Logan will make of it all, but I hope one day he will be proud to have been part of this journey with me.” 

Michael Taylor (Men’s PTS4) will also return having finished seventh in Tokyo, whilst Mel Nicholls (Women’s PTWC) will compete in her third Paralympic Games and her first since moving into paratriathlon. Nicholls has previously represented ParalympicsGB in para-athletics and only switched to paratriathlon in 2022. 

New names representing Team GB

Another athlete new to the sport who has made the ParalympicsGB team for Paris is Henry Urand (Men’s PTS3). The Loughborough University student made the transition from para-cycling to paratriathlon in 2023 and has qualified for his first Paralympic Games having finished first or second in five of his six international races in the last 12 months. 

Speaking on being selected for his first Games, Urand said: “I am honoured to be selected as a part of the paratriathlon team heading out to Paris. It feels surreal at the moment, and not something I thought was possible when I switched to triathlon 15 months ago.  
 
“It means so much being able to go to Paris and showcase para-sport to the world stage. It is extra special that it is a Games that is close to home, where family and friends can come and watch.”
 
Also making their Games debuts in Paris will be Finley Jakes (Men’s PTS4), Hannah Moore and Megan Richter (both Women’s PTS4), and Oscar Kelly and his guide Charlie Harding in the men’s PTVI classification.

Kelly and Harding also teamed up to represent England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, with Moore and Richter sharing six medals between them so far this year.

Jakes has developed through the British Triathlon system, progressing from taking part in a Talent ID Day, through the pathway and onto the World Class Programme to reach his first Paralympic Games.

Strength in Team GB

Tom Hodgkinson, Head of Paratriathlon at British Triathlon, said of the squad: “To be able to take a large and talented team of athletes and guides to Paris is incredibly exciting for me, British Triathlon and the sport in Britain. 
 
“Across the team we’ve got stories of success, comebacks and personal triumphs. Lauren coming back into the team having taken time away to start her PhD, Alison returning as a mother, and Dave and Luke returning to the top of the sport again after some bad luck in Tokyo really show the people behind the results. 
 
“We’ve also got a strong cohort of athletes who’ve put performances together throughout 2024 to secure qualification. There were a lot of challenges last year which have been overcome and the character demonstrated puts us as a team in a good place moving forwards.

“Everyone in the squad has a fantastic story to tell of this cycle and with a team of people behind them who have helped get them to this point.

“The coming weeks from our holding camp in France and through to Paris will be an amazing next chapter in those stories and I’m looking forward to shaping and sharing the experience with the selected athletes of ParalympicsGB for Paris 2024.” 
 
Penny Briscoe, ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission for Paris 2024 said: “I want to congratulate every athlete and guide on this selection milestone as part of the biggest paratriathlon squad to ever represent ParalympicsGB. With the experience of athletes such as Lauren Steadman, Claire Cashmore and Dave Ellis combined with some exciting ParalympicsGB debutants this is further proof of the breadth of talent we have across a diverse range of sports as we head towards Paris 2024.”

When to see the Team GB paratriathletes racing

Sunday 1 September (PTS2-5) 
Lauren Steadman (PTS5)  – from Peterborough, trains in London  
Claire Cashmore (PTS5)  – from Kidderminster, trains in Loughborough   
Michael Taylor (PTS4) – from Barnstaple, trains in Bristol/Bath  
Finley Jakes (PTS4) – from Eastbourne, trains in Loughborough   
Megan Richter (PTS4) – from Birmingham, trains in Birmingham   
Hannah Moore (PTS4)  – from Stalbridge, trains in Loughborough  
Henry Urand (PTS3) – from Ashford, trains in Loughborough  
 
Monday 2 September (PTVI & PTWC) 
Dave Ellis (PTVI) – from Derby, trains in Loughborough  
Luke Pollard (guide to Dave Ellis) – from Telford, trains in Loughborough 
Alison Peasgood (PTVI) – from Dunfermline, trains in Loughborough 
Brooke Gillies (guide to Alison Peasgood) – from Fife, trains in Loughborough 
Oscar Kelly (PTVI) – from Redbridge, trains in Loughborough   
Charlie Harding (guide to Oscar Kelly) – from Penrith, trains in Nottingham   
Mel Nicholls (PTWC) – from Tewkesbury, trains in Tewkesbury/Loughborough

Read more about how paratriathletes train for big events with a day in the life of Claire Cashmore and Dave Ellis.

Find out which triathletes have qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.