A potential two places are up for grabs in each of the paratriathlon categories: PT1, PT2, PT4 (men) and P2, P4 and P5 (women).<\/p>\n
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Athletes who have already won a medal at the 2014 and 2015 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, and win a gold at WPE Buffalo City, WPE Yokohama or WPE Aguilas this year, will meet the automatic selection criteria.<\/p>\n
As with the Olympic selection policy, which many considered to be particularly tough compared to other nations, the Paralympic policy \u201cis about ensuring we send a very strong team\u00a0that is capable of\u00a0delivering medal winning performances,\u201d said a spokesman for British Triathlon. <\/p>\n
\u201cBrendan Purcell is the National Performance Director for both the elite and paratriathlon squads, so his input means there are some similarities between the two policies. Like the Olympic nomination policy, athletes who have a proven track record of winning medals at the highest level are able to secure automatic selection earlier than the rest of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far out of the ParalympicsGB hopefuls, just Lauren Steadman (gold medallist at the 2014 and 2015 World Champs in PT4) and Alison Patrick (gold medallist in 2014, silver medallist in 2015 in PT5) have met the first part of the automatic selection criteria. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those who haven\u2019t met the criteria for automatic selection, will be considered on their performances at the major championships during 2015\/16 and the ITU World Paratriathlon Event Series up until June 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The final team will be announced by ParalympicsGB in July after selectors have also taken into consideration an athlete\u2019s form, race times and whether their performance profile suits the Rio 2016 Paralympic course.<\/p>\n
Paralympic hopeful Phil Hogg says: \u201cThis would be the highlight of my sporting career to date. To compete for your country at the highest level is a honour and privilege that doesn\u2019t come easy. \u00a0<\/p>\n