{"id":7803,"date":"2021-03-15T00:30:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T00:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=7803"},"modified":"2021-03-15T00:30:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T00:30:30","slug":"andy-lewis-wins-gbs-first-ever-paralympic-tri-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=7803","title":{"rendered":"Andy Lewis wins GB\u2019s first-ever Paralympic tri gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paratriathlon\u2019s debut got off to a golden start on the Copacabana earlier today as GB\u2019s Andy Lewis took gold in the PT2 category ahead of race favourite Michele Ferrarin of Italy. Fourth onto the 22km four-lap bike course, he quickly made up ground to start the 5km two-lap run in silver-medal position.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cI came onto the last lap of the run and I had [Moroccan] Mohamad Lahna in front of me,\u201d Lewis told 220<\/em> at the line. \u201cSo I went past him and then he sat behind me. I could just hear his blade tapping the floor and I just thought I\u2019ve got to get away from this guy. I look up and see Ferrarin had a penalty and that was my motivation to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Paralympic win for Lewis tops off a phenomenal year for the 33-year-old, who also took the European and world titles.<\/p>\n

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\u201cComing into this race today I had massive doubts about whether I could get on that podium. I just didn\u2019t feel it while we were in [the holding camp] Belo. I just wanted to race, from the moment we arrived here, and to be told I had to hold in a camp, mentally it was tough. But coming here, and getting a medal is just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow PT2er and teammate Ryan Taylor finished sixth out of the 10-strong category, and was upbeat at the finish line despite trailing the 750m swim by 4:22secs on the then leader Mark Barr (USA): \u201cIf my swim was much better I\u2019d have been closer [to the leaders]. I know I\u2019ve got the edge on them on the bike and run but it\u2019s just the swim I was lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his fellow teammate and now Paralympic gold medallist: \u201cAndy\u2019s just awesome, I couldn\u2019t be more pleased for him. This guy is so supportive of me, and has helped push me along. He just deserves this so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to Lewis\u2019s coach Steve Casson after the medal ceremony he commented: \u201cIt was an absolutely fantastic delivery by Andy today. He has ups and downs on the lead-in to a race like this but between us we know he\u2019s going to put it together on the day, and that\u2019s absolute what he did. He didn\u2019t panic, he knew some of the stronger athletes would come past him on the bike, and he just had to stick to his plan and finish off with a great run, which he\u2019s always capable of doing. We had a few choice words while he was out on the course but that\u2019s what he asked me to do! It gets him fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peasgood swims good<\/strong><\/p>\n

The PT4 category was actually the first off the pontoon, at 10am local time, 3mins ahead of PT2. And it was GB\u2019s George Peasgood who took the race to the field, exiting in 9:41mins, 33secs ahead of the next athlete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI managed to get a bit more away on the swim than expected,\u201d admitted Peasgood at the line. \u201cI was really surprised that I was out on my own. Coming out was absolutely insane, and I took it all in and enjoyed the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peasgood held the lead until the third lap of the bike leg, when race favourite and reining world and European champion Martin Schulz overtook the 19-year-old Brit for first\u2026 which he would never relinquish, becoming the first Paralympic paratriathlon medallist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On his weakest discipline, the run, Peasgood would drop to seventh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Martin Schulz was going to come past at some point, but I needed to focus on myself and not get caught up in the situation going onto the run. The run was hard as it got hotter and hotter, but I enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year [at the Test Event] I came sixth with a couple of people missing, and I wanted to come as close as possible today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teammate David Hill finished 10th: \u201cIt was just incredible to cross that finish line, to be honest with you. It\u2019s been an incredible journey to get here. This time last year it was looking quite doubtful that I\u2019d be able to compete here. So right now I\u2019m just feeling extremely grateful and incredibly thankful for all the support I\u2019ve received from British Triathlon and friends and family from back home. Very tough conditions today but made a lot easier by all the crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Double Dutch<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting at 11:20am, the final race of the day saw the wheelchair category take to the Copacabana course. While Joe Townsend and Phil Hogg both had stellar races to finish sixth and eighth, respectively, the day belonged to Team Netherlands, as Jetze Plat led from the start to finish with a whopping 1:59min margin over teammate Geert Schipper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet even if Hogg had finished last, nothing could have defused his enthusiasm for the race, cheering and waving to crowd down the finish chute as if he\u2019d just won.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling absolutely awesome,\u201d he beamed at the finish. \u201cI actually feel like a Paralympian now, I\u2019ve not felt like that until crossing that line. Talking to you now, I\u2019m getting goose bumps and this is something that will stay with me forever. Four years\u2019 worth of training, that was my time to shine and say thank you to everyone who\u2019s believed in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the race itself: \u201cI had a solid race, eighth is not the best in the world. But you know what I can put my hand on my heart and say I did everything to plan, from the days leading up to the race to the crossing the line. My processes were right and I felt absolutely confident throughout the race.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Unfortunately Townsend was taken away at the finish line due to severe heat exhaustion, but was declared fit and well soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For full results head here\u00a0and for a full report and exclusive imagery from today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s women\u2019s events, check out the November issue of 220, on sale 11 October.<\/p>\n

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PIC CREDIT: David Pearce<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClick Here: liverpool mens jersey<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paratriathlon\u2019s debut got off to a golden start on the Copacabana earlier today as GB\u2019s Andy Lewis took gold in the PT2 category ahead of race favourite Michele Ferrarin of Italy. Fourth onto the 22km four-lap bike course, he quickly made up ground to start the 5km two-lap run in silver-medal position.\u00a0 Advertisement \u201cI came…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}