Leanne Taylor continues super season with bronze in Para triathlon at Paralympic Games

PARIS – Leanne Taylor of Winnipeg continued a super season on Monday with the bronze medal in the women’s wheelchair class in Para triathlon at the Paralympic Games.

‘’It’s amazing, I don’t think it’s really set in yet,’’ said Taylor, 32, paralyzed from the waist down in a biking accident in 2018. ‘’I had so many friends to support me and to get them to cheer even louder than they were is super exciting.’’

Lauren Parker of Australia led after each of the three events to win the gold medal in 1:06:23. Kendall Gretsch of the U.S., the defending champion, took the silver in 1:07.46. and Taylor finished in 1:12.11.

There were nine entries.

Taylor posted the third best time in the swimming portion and ranked fourth in both the cycling and wheelchair race. A key to her medal was her first transition from swim to bike which was the second best of the day.

‘’I was really nervous,’’ said Taylor. ‘’But when you’ve been training  years for this but you really want to give everything you have on the day. When I was on the run, my coach told me I was third and I saw the gap and realized all I had to do as hold on.

‘’Coming into the finish was just looking for my husband and let him know we had done it.’’

Taylor also won her first career  ITU World Series event at the stop in Swansea, Wales earlier this summer. She was also second at the other two stops in Montreal and Yokohama, Japan. She’s soared this season to number-four in the world.

Kamylle Frenette of Dieppe, N.B., took fourth spot for a second straight Games in the women’s standing PT5 class.

Grace Norman of the U.S. was the winner in 1:04.40, Claire Cashmore of Great Britain second in 1:05.55 and her compatriot and defending champion Lauren Steadman third in 1:06.45.

Frenette was fourth through every interval and clocked 1:09.50.

‘’Of course, I had set myself big goals,” Frenette told Radio-Canada. ‘’I’d have liked to reach the podium, let’s face it. It’s a sport where you can prepare as much as you want, but when the day of the event comes, you can have a good day or a bad day. The top-three had a great day and it just wasn’t mine.’’

In the men’s PT5, it was a tough day for world number-one Stefan Daniel of Calgary as he placed 10^th. He was a medallist at the last two Games and is a five-time world champion. Daniel was fifth after the swimming section but crashed during the bike portion of the race to put himself out of contention.

“Right before the last lap, I went too fast into a U-turn and just went into the barricades,” Daniel said. “I just miscalculated it. Lapse of judgment. I was down before I knew it.