Australia dominate ITU Paraduathlon World Championships in Adelaide

Jonathon Georlach claimed gold in the men's PT5 event ©ITU

Australian athletes dominated the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Paraduathlon World Championships in front of a home crowd in Adelaide.

One of the closest events of the day saw Jonathon Georlach take gold in the men’s PT5 event with his guide Jack Bigmore, seeing off the challenge of France’s Amaud Grandjean.

The pair completed the run course at Elder Park in 15min 14sec to build nearly a 30 second advantage over the Frenchman, who was unable to close the gap significantly on the bike leg, with Georlach crossing in 57:02 to take the gold medal.

Georlach’s fellow Australia Daniel Searle earned the bronze medal, finishing in 1 hour 06min 42sec.

“My run is my strength and it really played into our favour in a duathlon, the French really pushed us on the run and kept us honest on the bike,” said Georlach.

“We gain our advantage from our guides on the bike, they can’t drag us in the run or in the swim of the triathlon.

“Jack really left it all out there on the bike and unusually was hurting on the run but we had a good enough lead out there and managed to hold them off and enjoy the victory coming down the finish chute.”

New Zealand's Fiona Southorn was a rare non-Australian winner, claiming victory in the PT4 category ©ITU

Tony Scoleri triumphed in another Australia against France battle as the home favourite finished the PT4 race in 1:03:24, while opponent David Travadon came home nearly five minutes adrift to take the silver medal.

Alex Welsh and Scott Crowley made it an Australian one-two in the PT1 event, finishing in times of 59:16 and 1:01:30 respectively, but a home clean sweep of golds in the men’s races was prevented by Italy’s Alessandro Carvani took gold in a time of 1:13:07 in the PT2 category.

An Australian clean sweep in the women’s competitions was derailed by New Zealand’s Fiona Southorn, who clocked 1:06:08 to claim the PT4 gold, with the home country's Claire Mclean finishing 32 seconds behind in silver.

Australian dominated the remaining events at the Championships, though, as Sarah Tait won the PT1 race in 1:28:30 and Sally Pilbeam and Kerryn Harvey made it a one-two in the PT3 class, crossing the line in 1:13:20 and 1:13:34 respectively.

The final gold medal was secured by Casey Hyde, winner of the PT5 race in 1:19:26.