Lauren Parker went from agony to ecstasy at Paris 2024 as she claimed Paralympics gold to exorcise the ghosts of Tokyo 2021.
The brilliant Australian superstar had looked to have glory locked up in the Japanese capital three years ago before being passed by American Kendall Gretsch within sight of the finishing line. It was one of the sport’s greatest ever finishes, but also one of its most agonising moments for the runner-up.
Since then Parker had gone on an astonishing run, winning literally everything put in front of her, including three World Championship titles. And the 35-year-old was in no mood to make any mistakes here.
Lauren blasted clear at the front, giving Gretsch a mighty challenge to break down the huge gap. But this time it was too big an ask for the American, and it was glorious gold for the understandably emotional Parker.
Swim – Parker blasts off
Parker started some 3:38 ahead of Gretsch (see our full explainer for a guide to how every paratriathlon category works) and the American chopped 38 seconds off that lead by the time the pair exited the waters of the River Seine and into T1.
Between the two gold medal protagonists were Spain’s Eva Maria Moral Pedrero and Canada’s Leanne Taylor, but it was all eyes on the pair who had fought out the battle for gold in such incredible fashion in Tokyo some three years ago.
Parker had thrown down the gauntlet, this time would Gretsch be able to overturn that early deficit? We were about to find out.
Bike – Stellar Parker stays out in front
Gretsch removed a further 35 seconds from her deficit with a swift transition in T1, but could she further whittle it away on the bike as she and Parker switched to their handcycles.
The answer was in the affirmative, but likely not enough as Kendall (36:28) took just 11 seconds out of Parker’s lead during the 20km bike leg. As they headed into T2 the gap between the pair was still over 2 minutes. Lauren now looked a strong favourite for gold, and ready to finally banish those memories of Tokyo.
The battle for bronze meanwhile was a terrific one, with Taylor literally a second ahead of Moral Pedrero with Mexico’s Brenda Osnaya Alvarez in fifth. It would be agony for Osnaya Alvarez later though when she was disqualified for failing to serve a time penalty.
Run – Lauren holds on for spectacular win
Gretsch closed by a further 15 seconds in T2 but was only able to remove a further 9 seconds from the gap on the first 1.1km of the run and 1:50 appeared to be too bigger bridge to cross this time. There surely would be no repeat of Tokyo.
At halfway on the run, with just 2.5km to go, Lauren was still very much in charge as she held the gap to Gretsch – it was still timed at 1:48 and a glorious gold was in sight for the brilliant Aussie star.
Gretsch tried in vain to close down further on the final 2.5km but there was simply too much to do and she was still 1:23 adrift as Lauren took the tape amid emotional scenes to win a brilliant gold medal victory.
Taylor won that epic battle for bronze with Moral Pedrero by just seven seconds to claim a medal for Canada.
Paralympics Partriathlon results at Paris 2024
Monday September 2, 2024
PTWC Women
- 1. Lauren Parker (AUS) – 1:06:23
- 2. Kendall Gretsch (USA) – 1:07:46
- 3. Leanne Taylor (CAN) – 1:12:11
- 4. Eva Maria Moral Pedrero (ESP) – 1:12:18
- 5. Emelia Perry (USA) – 1:14:03
