They left him without a number in the last Triathlon World Cup due to technical criteria, despite the fact that his results indicated that he was among the best. His blow was big, that left him out of the Adopt Plan and his path to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games was uphill. But Jota García did not give up, he made a clean slate, without rancor, it was time to reinvent himself again and approach the new season with ambition and enthusiasm. In his first competition of the year, the man from Madrid won a bronze in the World Series in Devonport (Australia). In the oceanic event, Rakel Mateo has also taken a silver.
Although the Paralympic qualifying period will not open until June with the European Championship in Madrid, the triathletes seek to score points to climb positions in the international ranking and thus be able to appear on the start lists of the most important events. In Australian territory, Jota has shown that she continues in the ointment in PTVI (blind or visually impaired), an increasingly complicated category.
This time he could not form a partner with Daniel Múgica, injured, and the guide who accompanied him was the young Adrián Salto, with whom he has made a great debut. The Spanish duo finished the swim in second position, in the tandem they lost some place, but in the five kilometers in the foot race they were the fastest to cross the finish line as third with a final record of 1:05.27, 20 seconds behind. the silver of the Serbian Lazar Filipovic. Gold went to Australian Sam Harding.
“We have done a good swim, the bike has penalized us since the circuit was wet, it had several chicanes and 180 degree turns, and therefore it was more for experienced guides, and we have been prudent. In the foot race we have flown, one of the best partials in the entire category”, explained Jota, who had not won a medal since May last year in the Yokohama World Series. He already accumulates 16 medals in 29 international events.
“We are very happy, after being penalized in Montreal and not finishing the World Cup in Alanya (Turkey) in 2022, I am back on the podium. This year I’m doing things differently and the times, the rhythms and the sensations are coming out. With Adrián Salto we have obtained a good performance despite the short time we have been training together. The category is getting stronger and tougher, this is going to get complicated, being in Paris will be expensive. I really like what I do and how I’m doing it, so I’m satisfied, proud and wanting to keep pushing”, he stressed.
Rakel Mateo is also smiling again after adding another notch to her record. The one from Mungia (Vizcaya), a Paralympic diploma in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, has added her 13th medal in international triathlon events after hanging a silver in PTS2 (athletes with severe physical disabilities who compete standing). In the 750-meter swim she kept close to Japan’s Yukako Hata, although her main rival took off on the bike and then in the race to prevail. The Spaniard finished second with 1:41.33, beating the Australian Anu Francis.
“It has been a tougher test than expected. The water was cold and it started to rain, even so, I did a good swim, also on the bike despite the fact that it was difficult for me to warm up. In both disciplines I have improved, but running is my weak point at the moment. I am looking forward to continuing to work to improve ”, pointed out Rakel, who hopes to qualify for Paris 2024, which would be his third Games.
And in PTS4 (moderate disabilities) Álex Sánchez Palomero was in fifth position with 1:10.34. The man from Salamanca, Paralympic bronze in Tokyo 2020 and who two weeks ago won silver in the Abu Dhabi World Cup, seems to have definitively left behind the Achilles tendon injury that kept him out of competition for almost eight months.
“It has been a difficult race, the water was very cold, then it started to rain and there were many curves per lap, something that greatly affected the situation in our category, there have been many crashes, but we have saved the furniture, I have not taken risks where there were much to lose In swimming I did well and in the foot race my sports performance is still far away, on a mental level it is difficult to push yourself when you know that you are not in the place where you have come to be. I finished fifth and in a normal situation I could have been close to the podium. I get points again and go up in the ranking ”, he explained.
