Teamwork and love the recipe for Leanne Taylor’s success in 2024

WINNIPEG – Paralympic Games bronze medallist Leanne Taylor has a secret weapon for her success in Para triathlon. It shouldn’t be so secret since the individual in question, all six-feet-plus of him, is right there by her side for some of the most crucial moments of her races.

All wheelchair competitors in Para triathlon have a handler with them but for Taylor her race assistant is her husband Scott Dyk, a former athlete himself who played college baseball at North Dakota State. On the racecourse, Dyk helps Taylor transfer from the swimming to the cycling to the running portions of the race at the transition areas.

Dyk helps with lifting and priming her equipment, then assists in changing racing outfits and installing her on the handcycle and racing chair.

This is all done at a frantic pace and reminds one of the crews changing tires during a Formula One race, except there is only one person. These transfers are a crucial part of the race, and the seconds saved can mean the difference between a podium or fourth place.

Taylor and Dyk were already dating before her biking accident in 2018, and they tied the knot last year.

‘’We met through a colleague of mine,’’ said Taylor.  “A few of my female friends were dating guys on their baseball team and so he was interested in getting to know me and had asked me if I would go to a party with his friends.’’

As she was recuperating from her accident which left her a paraplegic, Taylor was determined to get into sport. A recreational athlete before her accident, she dabbled in various Para sports but quickly Para triathlon won out.

She found it was rather unique.

‘’It’s a sport that you would not expect a wheelchair user to be able to do,’’ she said. ‘’The idea of doing something that’s a combination of swimming in the ocean, hand cycling, and wheelchair racing was just so cool.”

Her future husband was right into it.

‘’Part of the experience is working with each other,” Taylor said. “It is really about trusting each other, and that knowing that if something goes wrong, which happens, I’m confident he can fix it.

 ‘’It’s just having that quick efficient communication at the transition.’’

The duo is back in action this Friday at the Para Triathlon World Championships in Torremolinos, Spain, near Malaga. Five-time world champion Stefan Daniel of Calgary is Canada’s other entry.

Taylor admits the season seems to be dragging on somewhat but she’s excited about having another crack at her top opponents. That includes Lauren Parker of Australia and Kendall Gretsch of the U.S., who finished 1-2 in Paris.

“The first couple weeks getting back to training, I felt pretty good,” she said.  ‘’Then over time, it just started to catch up to me a little bit. I’m ready for a break, but I’m excited to have another go at it at worlds.

‘’Usually after a Games, some competitors take a long break but for these worlds it’s a full field.”

Of course, Taylor admits it will be hard to top her bronze performance thrill from Paris, the first medal for a Canadian woman in Para triathlon.

The result continued a breakthrough season for her. Heading into the Games – her first Paralympic appearance – she had a gold and two silver in her three World Para triathlon Series events.

She admits it’s been fun to show off her medal back home in Winnipeg over the last month.

‘’It’s been amazing,’’ she said about her life since returning to the Manitoba capital. ‘’We’ve had the opportunity to visit a lot of places. That was really important to me.

‘’To take my medal to the Health Sciences Centre, which is where I was treated after my spinal cord injury and show my medal to the physio that worked with me there – those kind of things have just been such amazing experiences and it’s nice to be around friends and family.’’