Australian Para triathlete Lauren Parker has a back tattoo that says: “She is unbreakable” and on day five of the Games she lived up to that mantra claiming Paralympic gold.
The 35-year-old won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games after the USA’s Kendall Gretsch pipped her for the top gong by a second in a thrilling sprint finish.
The disappointment lit a fire in her belly and Parker came to Paris on a mission to go one better.
“It’s absolutely amazing. I can’t believe I was able to do it... it’s been a long journey to get here,” Parker told reporters.
“I couldn’t be more proud”
Para triathletes started and finished on the 45m wide and 107m long, Pont Alexandre III, a bridge between the Seine’s two banks in central Paris. The Eiffel Tower loomed in the distance and a French marching band provided ambience as the races got underway.
It was 21.1C in the water and a balmy 18.5 C with a light breeze.
The event kicked off with a 750m swim in the Seine before competitors biked and ran near iconic landmarks such as the Grand Palais.
There was immense relief when Parker crossed the finish line in Paris.
“The swim was tough, obviously coming back with the current against you,” she said.
“The hardest part was the sun was in your eyes and you couldn’t see anything... I couldn’t see the end.”
She was a minute and six seconds ahead of the pack but had hoped for a bigger lead going into the next leg.
“I wasn’t too happy with my swim leg... I knew I had to push it on the bike,” she said.
Parker said the bike leg was her strongest.
“I felt stronger the last four laps,” she said.
“I was gaining time and increasing my gap.”
She also felt confident about the run leg and had made huge improvements in recent years.
In Paris, Gretsch had to settle for silver and was full of praise for her rival Parker.
“I’m so excited for Lauren, we have become friends over these past three years,” Gretsch told reporters.
“That’s the most special part of the Paralympics and being able to compete at the highest level... I’m not just competing with these women I’ve become friends with them. That connection is something that’s going to last forever.”
During her youth, Parker grappled with mental health issues including self-harm and eating disorders.
“I’ve been through a lot of things in my life. It’s just about being an over-comer and adapting,” she said.
“Looking at the positives... I want to inspire as many people as possible... no matter what you can always have success.”
She lives with severe neuropathic pain which she likened to “razor blades cutting” her up, “burning alive” and “being eaten alive by acid”.
“Right now I’m in horrific pain with nerve pain through my body,” she said.
“Yes, I’ve got a high pain threshold because of it. No matter how much pain I put myself through in sport it is not as bad as the nerve pain.”
Parker won’t have much time to celebrate the gold, she has a day off to recover before Wednesday’s individual time trial H 1-3 in the Para cycling road and Thursday’s road race.
“Of course (there’s enough energy left) I’ve been preparing for this,” she said.
“The goal is to get three goal medals.”
Catch Parker in the Para cycling road events on 4 and 5 September.
But, on Monday morning (local time) in Paris – after poor water quality had postponed the triathlon event by 24 hours – Parker was in a mood to go one better.
The 35-year-old’s victory sealed Australia’s seventh gold medal of the 2024 Games.
Parker cruised through the opening leg of the triathlon – a 750m swim through the Seine – to establish an early lead of 52 seconds.
Gretsch was third out of the water.
However, the American had the Australian in her sights, making up ground as they transitioned to the hand cycle.
Across the five laps through a 20km cycling course, Gretsch moved up into second and began to loom over Parker’s shoulder.
The Newcastle athlete was one minute and 58 seconds ahead of her American rival after the pair had both transitioned into the 5km wheelchair run.
Gretsch began to surge, but Parker was not going to let up as she crossed Pont Alexandre III, bursting into tears as she crossed the finish line.
It capped a turbulent 12-month period where the Australian had to alter her race style in all three formats after a bike accident in training.
“After getting second in Tokyo by less than a second, that’s been a big driving force over the last three years,” Parker said.
“Every single day, every single training session, I’ve worked so hard to accomplish what I have today.
“Sport brings emotional roller-coasters from week to week – I’ve been through a lot emotionally, personally, physically.
“I’ve been through a bike accident and lots of other things that I’ve had to overcome, and to be able to do this today is so special.”
Parker crossed the finish line with a time of 1:06.23, with Gretsch clinching silver with 1:07.46.
“I’m so excited for Lauren, we have became great friends over these past three years… I’m also proud of my race today,” a gracious Gretsch said.
The victory puts Parker on course to become Australia’s first dual-sport Paralympic gold medallist at a Games since Eric Russell completed the feat in 1976.
Parker’s attention will now turn to cycling, with the Australian set to compete in the individual time trial and the road race.
“I’ve got a one-day break, and then cycling events,” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge, the cycling is my strongest leg.
“I’m really looking forward to getting three golds.”
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Lauren Parker was overcome with emotion when she crossed the line. (Reuters: Christian Hartmann)
Lauren Parker beat defending para-triathlon PTWC champion Kendall Gretsch by 1 minute and 23 seconds to gold.
Gretsch beat Parker by a second at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo three years ago.
Parker will also compete in the hand cycle road race and individual time trial later in the Games.
Lauren Parker glanced behind her, smiled, and allowed the tears to flow as she rolled across the line.
Three years after being pipped to a gold medal in Tokyo by about a second by American Kendall Gretsch, Parker blew the entire field away with a dominant performance to clinch a golden redemption.
Poor water quality in the River Seine had postponed the triathlon event by 24 hours.
A training accident in the build-up had also threatened to derail her.
None of that mattered for Parker.
What's another 24 hours when the pain of that agonising defeat had dogged her for the past three years?
What's a training crash, however “nightmare-like”, compared to the U-turn her life went through in 2017, when she crashed into a guardrail at 45 kilometres per hour?
ABC Sport will be blogging each day of the Paris Paralympic Games.
Lauren Parker claimed gold in the para-triathlon women's PTWC. (Getty Images: Tasos Katopodis)
Because once the racing got underway in Paris, she proved that she had waited long enough.
“I can't believe it. A dream come true today,” Parker told Channel Nine.
“I've been through a lot in the last three years and it just sums up everything I've been through and worked hard towards.
“I've had the goal of getting the gold medal here in Paris ever since Tokyo.
“Every single session I've been putting myself through in training, I've had that vision and I can't believe I've done that today.”
The 35-year-old's victory sealed Australia's seventh gold medal of the 2024 Games.
Parker opened up a big lead on the first leg — a 750m swim through the Seine — exiting the water with a 52-second advantage.
Australia's Lauren Parker during her swim leg of the triathlon at the Paris Paralympics. (AP: Thibault Camus)
Gretsch — who started 3 minutes and 38 seconds after Parker on account of her being a PTWC2 athlete, while Parker is PTWC1 — was third out of the water.
Given her stunning chase in Tokyo, her presence, however distant, was still ominous.
Three years prior, the American chased down Parker on the hand cycle and wheelchair legs to steal an extraordinary gold medal and was going about doing so again in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower looming large on the horizon.
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Gretsch moved up into second during the five-lap 20km hand cycle leg, gradually hauling Parker in across the Parisian cobbles.
Still, the Australian was 1 minute and 58 seconds ahead of her American rival after the pair both transitioned into the 5km wheelchair phase of the competition.
Gretsch continued to eat into Parker's lead, but she was always going to run out of road.
Parker smiled a grin of pure relief as she crossed Pont Alexandre III, bursting into tears as she lowered her head and crossed the line alone.
“It means everything. I've been through so much since then (her 2017 accident) as well,” Parker said.
“The emotional rollercoaster I've been through, pushing through every single day, every single second just to be here.
“I couldn't be happier today.”
The American took silver, 1 minute and 23 seconds behind, with Canada’s Leanne Taylor claiming bronze.
Meanwhile, in the men's PTWC triathlon, Australia's Nic Beveridge finished sixth.
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Paris: Australia’s Lauren Parker has exacted revenge to win the women’s triathlon at the Paralympics in Paris, comfortably taking the crown from the USA’s Kendall Gretsch.
It was a significant win for Parker; she narrowly lost first place in Tokyo after leading for the majority of the race when Gretsch came from behind to beat her by just one second in an intense sprint finish.
Lauren Parker makes her way down the Champs-Elysees in the triathlon.Credit: AP
“It’s been a big build-up. I’ve said ever since Tokyo that I want to get gold in Paris,” Parker said.
“I can’t believe I was able to do it today. It’s been a long journey to get here, and I couldn’t be more proud and more happy.”
Parker had been unbeatable ever since Tokyo, winning three world titles. In Paris, Parker dominated the entire race to win in one hour, six minutes and 23 seconds – more than a minute ahead of Gretsch.
“I was able to enjoy the last lap a little bit and especially at the finish line, I looked back and made sure no one was chasing me down,” Parker said.
After leaping from the base of Pont Alexandre III for a 750-metre swim along the Seine River, Parker was first to exit the water.
The 35-year-old then held her lead throughout the 20-kilometre hand-cycle snaking through historic Parisian streets, including the famed, cobbled Champs-Elysees, and a five-kilometre wheelchair-run to finish.
Gretsch was tailing Parker by about two minutes for much of the race, before picking up the pace during the final stage, but not quite enough to come out on top.
It was a still, sunny Monday morning in Paris, on the first day back from France’s “grandes vacances” – the holiday the French take in August – and local crowds flocked to line the river and streets to cheer on the triathletes.
The triathlon was due to kick off on Sunday in Paris, but it was postponed at 4am that morning following an emergency meeting of event officials.
After two days of rain and storms, organisers said the water quality of the river had deteriorated and was unsuitable for swimming. The triathlon races were pushed back a day.
Paris 2024 organisers have been criticised for deciding to hold swimming events in the Seine River. The city poured in 1.4 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to clean up the polluted river, but, like during the Paralympics, the men’s Olympic triathlon was also postponed.
“Every now and then it would come into my mind not to swallow water or stuff like that, but it didn’t feel bad,” Parker said.
What made the swim particularly challenging, Parker said, was the blinding sun.
“The sun was in your eyes, and you couldn’t see anything,” she said.
Parker is a long-time elite triathlete who became paraplegic in 2017 after she crashed during a high-speed training ride.
Determined to return to high-performance sport, Parker won bronze in the Commonwealth Games para-triathlon only 11 months after her life-altering injury.
There was no animosity post-race at the Paralympics. Gretsch said she was excited for Parker.
Triathlete Lauren Parker celebrates winning gold.Credit: Getty Images
“I’m super proud of Lauren. Any time I race against her, it’s a tough race, and that’s exactly what you want,” Gretsch said.
“We have become friends over these past three years.”
Parker has a day’s break before she returns to competition on Wednesday, this time in road cycling, starting with the time trial, then the road race on Thursday. She took gold and silver for those events respectively at the 2023 world championships.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge and cycling is my strongest leg,” she said.
“The goal is to get the three gold medals.”
Parker is the first Australian athlete since 1992 to compete in two different sports in the one Games. The last Paralympic athlete to win gold in two different sports for Australia was Eric Russell in 1976.
Parker has been open about her mental health struggles, and she lives with chronic neuropathic pain from her chest down to her feet.
“Right now I’m in horrific pain with the nerve pain everywhere through my body. Even when I’m racing, I still have that pain,” she said.
“I’ve got a high pain threshold because of it, because no matter how much pain I put myself through in sport, it’s not as bad as what the nerve pain is.”
Six months ago, Parker got a new tattoo on her back: “She is unbreakable”. She certainly showed that today.
For the latest results, news and analysis from the Paris Paralympics sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Copyright © 2024 Three years on from the agony of Tokyo 2021, it was golden glory for the Australian superstar.
The brilliant Australian superstar had looked to have glory locked up in the Japanese capital three years ago before being passed by American Kendall Gretsch within sight of the finishing line. It was one of the sport’s greatest ever finishes, but also one of its most agonising moments for the runner-up.
Since then Parker had gone on an astonishing run, winning literally everything put in front of her, including three World Championship titles. And the 35-year-old was in no mood to make any mistakes here.
Parker started some 3:38 ahead of Gretsch (see our full explainer for a guide to how every paratriathlon category works) and the American chopped 38 seconds off that lead by the time the pair exited the waters of the River Seine and into T1.
Between the two gold medal protagonists were Spain’s Eva Maria Moral Pedrero and Canada’s Leanne Taylor, but it was all eyes on the pair who had fought out the battle for gold in such incredible fashion in Tokyo some three years ago.
Parker had thrown down the gauntlet, this time would Gretsch be able to overturn that early deficit? We were about to find out.
Gretsch removed a further 35 seconds from her deficit with a swift transition in T1, but could she further whittle it away on the bike as she and Parker switched to their handcycles.
The answer was in the affirmative, but likely not enough as Kendall (36:28) took just 11 seconds out of Parker’s lead during the 20km bike leg. As they headed into T2 the gap between the pair was still over 2 minutes. Lauren now looked a strong favourite for gold, and ready to finally banish those memories of Tokyo.
The battle for bronze meanwhile was a terrific one, with Taylor literally a second ahead of Moral Pedrero with Mexico’s Brenda Osnaya Alvarez in fifth. It would be agony for Osnaya Alvarez later though when she was disqualified for failing to serve a time penalty.
Gretsch closed by a further 15 seconds in T2 but was only able to remove a further 9 seconds from the gap on the first 1.1km of the run and 1:50 appeared to be too bigger bridge to cross this time. There surely would be no repeat of Tokyo.
At halfway on the run, with just 2.5km to go, Lauren was still very much in charge as she held the gap to Gretsch – it was still timed at 1:48 and a glorious gold was in sight for the brilliant Aussie star.
Gretsch tried in vain to close down further on the final 2.5km but there was simply too much to do and she was still 1:23 adrift as Lauren took the tape amid emotional scenes to win a brilliant gold medal victory.
Taylor won that epic battle for bronze with Moral Pedrero by just seven seconds to claim a medal for Canada.
Monday September 2, 2024
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