IT’S A SILVER LINING FOR TRIATHLETE
Aussie Lauren Parker missed gold by just 0.01 seconds, but she’s still all smiles in Tokyo
LAUREN Parker has won a silver medal in the triathlon at her first Paralympics after agonisingly missing out on gold in Tokyo by the smallest margin in the sport.
Parker, who has been in a wheelchair since a horrific cycling accident in 2017, led all the way and looked destined for the top spot on the podium until she was pipped right on the line by American Kendall Gretsch, who is herself an inspiring wheelchair athlete. The final margin was just 0.01 seconds and Parker said it was a bittersweet feeling after a slower competitor had held her up during the wheelchair leg, costing her valuable time.
“It wasn‘t to be for the gold but I am proud of my silver,” she said.
“I just put my head down and went for it. I knew she was coming. I did the best I could, but got stuck behind one of the girls on that last U-turn and lost a few seconds there.
“I knew I had to pull my head down on that finish line.”
Parker, 32, was an elite able-bodied triathlete, winning a silver medal at the 2015 Ironman World Championship, before the 2017 bike accident that changed her life.
She punctured a lung, broke her shoulder blade, pelvis and ribs and damaged her spinal-cord when a tyre fell while she was on a raining ride and she crashed head first into a guard rail.
She has been an instant success in para sport, despite being in constant pain, and undergoing multiple surgeries.
She won her first para world title in 2019 so was favourite to win in Tokyo but said the response she has had – both from competitors and the public – has meant more to her than any medal.
“I improved a lot over the last year, even on the run, but it wasn‘t to be for that gold. I am still happy with my silver,” she said.
“The competition today was amazing. Every woman out there went through her own obstacles over the last year.”
“I am so proud to be able to race them. To get a Paralympic Games silver medal out here in Tokyo makes me proud,” she said.
Born with spina bifida. Gretsch
joined an elite group of athletes to win gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics after she collected double gold in sitting cross country skiing and sitting biathlon in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Sixth after the 750m swim leg in Tokyo Bay, trailing Parker by three
and a half minutes, she was second after the 20km bike ride across the Fujimi Bridge but slowly reeled in the Aussie on the concluding wheelchair leg in Odaiba.
“I couldn‘t see her in front of me until the very last lap (of the wheelchair leg),” the American said.