SaqBy Milly McEvoy in Paris
Dave Ellis spent the day of the postponed triathlon reflecting on his withdrawal from Tokyo, then won gold when the race finally took place.
The Derby native suffered a mechanical failure in Tokyo when he failed to finish, meaning just getting through to the race in the French capital was a victory for him and his guide Luke Pollard.
The 38-year-old is one of the most relaxed athletes you’ll find, but even he showed some vulnerability when he finally won a Paralympic medal after three attempts.
“It’s absolutely unreal,” said Ellis, who is one of more than 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class programme, giving them full-time training, access to the world’s best coaches and pioneering medical support – all of which has been vital on their path to the Paris 2024 Games.
“Obviously Tokyo was the opposite, but it’s been a tough time the last few years so I’m really happy to have had a great race today.
“You only get a few chances in your career to compete in the Paralympics, which makes it a lot more nervous, and you just want to do it on the day.
“But that also makes it so special when you achieve it.
“It’s a hot day, it’s starting to warm up. Obviously with all the racing in one day we had a later start, but we did a lot of work on the heat which helped us and allowed us to finish the race.
“The system is in a bit of shock. I don’t know when it will recover. It will take time. I was still thinking about Tokyo yesterday and wondering ‘what was that like’, but it will be a much happier feeling.”
The Paris triathlon has been delayed by a day due to the return of water quality problems that had affected the Olympic triathlon.
It meant Ellis, who trains in Loughborough, had to start his race earlier than planned, and the tough swim course meant the former swimmer did not emerge from the Seine with his usual lead.
Ellis has been as dominant as they come since 2019, winning every international race except Tokyo and the European Championships two years ago, which were reduced to a duathlon.
He was closely followed by Frenchman Antoine Perel before pulling away with a time of 16:18 for the 5km race and enjoying celebrations at the finish line.
He added: “After one bike ride I thought, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve gone further.’”
“But it’s obviously the biggest stage for Paralympic athletes, and you just want to have a great race on the day.
“It was great to be able to achieve this and I’m really happy with the result.
“You don’t want to end your career like that in Tokyo, without even finishing the race.
“It would have been a pretty terrible way to end a journey that I thought was just beginning because obviously the category wasn’t there for Rio and the sport continues to grow and improve with every Paralympic, it’s just about wanting to be part of that movement.”
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