'Adrenaline is going, heart rate is through the roof'

Seven British para-triathletes landed podium positions at the World Para Triathlon Series in Swansea, with two-time Paralympian Dave Ellis securing his third consecutive win at the event.

The World Triathlon Para Series saw over 120 athletes competed across a range of categories in Swansea.

Selection for the Paralympic Games will be announced at the end of July and athletes must be ranked in the top nine of their classification to earn their nation a space in Paris.

For British athletes, this was the penultimate opportunity to secure a spot in Great Britain's paratriathlon squad heading to Paris.

The men's visually impaired category (PTVI) included three British athletes Ellis, Oscar Kelly and Rhys Jones.

Ellis and his guide Jack Hutchens narrowly overtook American para-triathlete Owen Cravens and his guide Ben Hoffman on the run portion of the race to win by a margin of just seven seconds.

Ellis is the only athlete to have won their category at this event in Swansea three years running and he said: "You could tell that we were closing so I was kind of confident but you never know until you have done it."

Hutchens stressed the importance of communication between himself and Ellis.

"Adrenaline is going, heart rate is through the roof, its hard to hear and you are concentrating in the technical sections," Hutchens said.

"I could see we were going to close the gap and Dave was really keen to get it closed straight away, so I was working hard to stay with him."

If Ellis is selected for the Paralympic Games, Luke Pollard will guide with Hutchens travelling as a reserve.

Dave Ellis and Jack Hutchens cross the finishing line in Swansea

Oscar Kelly and his guide Charlie Harding crossed the finish line in fourth place while Rhys Jones and his guide Malachi Cashmore finished in tenth place.

"We wanted to really push on the swim and the bike and see what we had left on the run, and it went pretty much exactly to plan," Jones said.

Jones and Cashmore have only raced together twice before but feel very in synch with each other.

"There's so many corners on this course, I don't think there was maybe five seconds where I wasn't shouting something at him," Cashmore said.

The technical 20km bike course was made even more exciting as the tandem time trial bikes had to manoeuvre tight corners at high speeds.

Cashmore added: "We had a couple of close calls on the barriers where we were running over some feet."

Jones, only took up the sport of triathlon in 2019 as his eyesight began to deteriorate.

He had little experience on a bike and described his swimming as "one level above drowning".

Since then he has been training in Leeds with the combined five-time Olympic medallists, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, and went on to represent Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The 44-year-old Welshman had a strong performance at the series in Swansea and said: "It is always nice to have a home crowd. It is great fun."

British athletes had a successful day in Swansea with many of the athletes crossing the finish line in podium positions.

• Alison Peasgood - Third place PTVI

• Claire Cashmore - First place PTS5

• Hannah Moore - First place PTS4

• Megan Richter - Second place PTS4

• Melissa Nicholls - Third place PTWC

• Dave Ellis -First place PTVI

• Oscar Kelly - Fourth place PTVI

• Rhys Jones - 10th place PTVI

• Michael Taylor - Second place PTS4

• Finley Jakes - Eighth place PTS4

• Brett Daughtrey - Eighth place PTS2

• Brett Crossley - Did Not Finish

• Joshua Landmann - Sixth place PTWC

Before the professionals took to the course, participants with a physical or intellectual impairment could race a shortened version of the course regardless of their experience or classification in the sport.

This Super Series consisted of a 400m swim, 8.8km bike ride and a 2.5km run.

Shona Brownlee MBE raced in Super Series in the PTS4 category. Six years after sustaining an injury to her ankle during a military training exercise, Shona had her right leg amputated below the knee.

In 2022, she was selected Beijing Paralympic Winter Games in Alpine Skiing.

Triathlon is "just a bit of fun" and helps with sustaining her fitness levels during the summer months when she is skiing less.

Shona has recently returned from a 145km trek to Mount Everest basecamp with the Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team to raise money for charity.