After a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run… Australian triathlete Lauren Parker missed out on Paralympic gold in the most heartbreaking fashion possible.
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 training ride and she crashed head first into a guard rail.
She 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 other competitors and the public to her performances – 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.“
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). Even halfway through that lap I couldn’t see her,” the American said.
“As soon as I saw her, I was like, ‘hey, you just have to do it’. You have to give everything you can. On that final stretch I just put my head down and that was all I could do.
“I knew it was going to be such a close race, so that finish is something I have been training for with my coach and my team this entire extra year.
“It‘s kind of special that it ended that way because that’s exactly what we worked for. It was just incredible.”
Originally published as Tokyo Paralympics 2021: Aussie Lauren Parker misses triathlon gold by barest of margins
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