The Olympics will undoubtedly be the highlight of the year with many HUUB athletes taking the trip over to Tokyo. The qualification period for the Olympic games finishes in May 2020 after Yokohama WTS meaning it is still all to play for in terms of qualification. The first three WTS races, Abu Dhabi, Bermuda and Yokohama, will be pivotal for those seeking selection so we can expect some intense racing in the early part of the year.

HUUB’s Jessica Learmonth (GBR), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) and Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) soared to ITU Grand Final success over the weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland. For Blummenfelt it was his first WTS win after a string of podium placings over the last few seasons.

When paratriathlon made its Paralympic debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the wheelchair men raced, but the women did not. With the sport being limited to six classes for its Games bow, the axe had to land somewhere. To retain gender equality, the visually impaired women got the nod at the expense of the men.

London’s Hyde Park in 2013, and 17-year-old George Peasgood became the youngest paratriathlete to win a medal on the world stage. True, the sport was also in relative infancy, but for the teenager from Saffron Walden, it was an achievement as solid as the bronze he was handed on the podium.

Joe Townsend lost his legs - and almost his life - to an Improvised Explosive Device in Afghanistan in 2008. You’ll read that in every interview about the burly former Royal Marine Commando because journalists love a good backstory when it comes to Paralympic sport...

HUUB paratriathletes achieved an impressive medal haul in northern Italy at the ITU World Paratriathlon Series. Jetze Plat won the PTWC event and Commonwealth champ Joe Townsend maintained his 2018 podium streak with bronze. In the men’s PTS5 category, George Peasgood won his second WPS of the year.

Commonwealth Champions, Joe Townsend and Jade Jones earned gold medals in the PTWC category, as well as Ryan Taylor in PTS3 men. George Peasgood, a gold medal winner at the last ITU paratriathlon race in Yokohama, claimed a silver medal this time, finishing in 2nd place in the PTS5 Men category.