Triathlon Finals | Day 4 | Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] day four of tokyo 2020 the para olympic games the venue is the odaiba marina the sport is the sport of triathlon first established at the paralympics back in 2016. and we have two categories for you today it is the men's pts4 and the women's pts2 idyllic conditions but it is warm it is humid now athletes today a 750 metre swim followed by a 20 kilometer bike and a five kilometer run yes we have the two classes the men's pts four and the women's pts ii and they'll be going just one minute apart the men's will start and then one minute later followed by the women's event well we should just run through those classes for you so the pts ii for our women are those athletes with severe impairments in both bike and run segments amputee athletes and now they may used approved prosthesis or other supportive devices it also includes athletes with comparable activity limitation and an impairment of but not limited to limit deficiency hypotonia ataxia or athetosis impaired muscle power or a range of movement so in the categories the smaller the number the higher level of impairment we just saw the full schedule there after the pts4 and the pts2 we'll be following that up with the ptvi the visually impaired class and that's where we'll see the athletes racing with their guides both the men's and the women's race and it is a sport that requires heavily on its technical officials beautiful presentation of this venue the bikes are wrecked i'd imagine all the athletes well they'll all be nervous it doesn't matter at what level of the sport you are and this is a nice message for people at home you talk to the elite athletes they are always nervous they are as nervous as you might be when you're doing your first triathlon and it's reassuring that so the stage is settlement please welcome the pts athletes and now the race introductions [Music] yeah keep an eye on this guy very good swimmer great to have croatian representation number 423 from great britain michael taylor well greitens great britain's big hope such a rich history in this sport number 424 from france three-time world champion or one of the biggest names in the sport a three-time world champion number 425 from the united states of america jamie brown yeah jamie one of two americans on the start light interesting to see how that plays out number 426 in the united states of america eric mcgillivetti always good to have a fellow countrymen alongside of you from japan and great round of applause for the local athlete out of japan huda hideki at the world championships the chinese athlete back in 2019 [Music] and the very colorful brazilian jorge louise fonseca please welcome the bts2 women's athletes to the tokyo 2020 paralympic games wearing number 201 from italy veronica one of the youngest in the field but has been improving in her performances rapidly over the last couple of years one to fight for a podium slot representing the russian paralympic committee and for the home crowd to get excited hoping well now these are the ones to watch the usa was such a strong dominance who has been dominant over the last few years defending champion from rio and melissa stockwell making up the three from the united states the three medalists from rio 2016. [Music] racquel mtio yuarti representing spain spain great triathlon nation followed up by great britain's fran brown who has worked so hard on her run over the last couple of years and could really mix things up with the americans who've dominated this women's category for the last few years oh remarkable boy this is going to be some exciting racing and one of the big question marks is due to the covert lockdowns a lot of these athletes have had mixed preparations as we've just confirmed that start list for you so the form guide you can throw that away because what happened back in 2019 a lot can change over two years now historically in the sport you can't win the race in the swim you can certainly lose it but with no drafting a withdraft no drafting this changes the game we'll always say that you sort of swim and bike for show run for dope but today it'll be the athlete who's the strongest across all three disciplines good to see the athletes with the ice vests on understanding the environmental factors and the fact that they do just need to try and conserve as much energy as possible but i tell you what aren't those conditions just idyllic you can see just a very slight breeze glistening across the water see athletes are just having to remove their final cooling devices before they get into that warm water right now getting ready for this start at 6 30 coming up in about two and a half minutes and now so two and a half minutes we can hear the voice of greg welch former hawaiian iron man winner who's non-american to win that great race and a former world champion in triathlon doing the pa announcing two and a half minutes to the start and then we'll have that minute one minute gap back to our women and so at times throughout the coverage we will be chopping back and forward okay so now we can keep you updated on what is happening but just one lap of the swim of 750 meters there was an awful lot that goes on in an open water swim a lot of dynamics at play it's about concentration it's about experience due to the varied limb deficiencies you'll see some of the athletes being stronger in some disciplines compared to the others and we'll really start to notice that in the swim you can just see the women getting ready there and great camaraderie between these athletes a group hug between nations well the women will have the benefit too of being able to watch the men if there are any environmental factors those athletes will be sitting back going hey is it better to start on the left hand side is it better to start in the middle what are the currents doing if there are in fact any so they do get that one minute opportunity just to survey and govern what is happening in this men's race so the man is pts4 so there are one impairment is not as severe as the women who are racing in the pts2 so the lower the category the higher the level of impairment as we do just confirm that women's field for you three americans interesting to see if they decide to team up at any point it does make it a bit more difficult when you've got a non-drafting race so it'll be five four laps on the bike and they do come out of the swim and then four laps on the run total distance of 20 kilometers on the bike total distance of five kilometers on the run so sit for a start at the paralympics tokyo 2020 this is the gold medal race for the men's pts4 so important they get out quickly try and get some clear water if you're a stronger swimmer well the second edition of triathlon at the paralympics is underway athletes from nations right around the world trying to etch their name in the history box trying to write a new chapter in the history of the sport at the highest level isn't it the washing machine effect the kick coming into play a much higher arm turnover off the start as they look to just try and get clear and then for a lot of those swimmers it's about them trying to get onto the back of another swimmer you get what we call a drag coefficient of around about 10 to 15 and already we've seen two swimmers going clear and a little bit of a gap starting to open up well these swimmers are likely to know whose feet they want to get on we're going to see quite some different groups forming quite quickly in this event and with it being non-drafting on the cycling like you say it's not it's really not the end of the the day if you come out of the water a little bit further back but they'll be comparing to what they know where they should be in relation to their fellow competitors obviously the last two years haven't been as normal for competing and training so we might see a few sort of upsets in the field and and here go the women now they have seen set off one minute later this is the pts two and we're seeing a strong start already coming from hata yukaka from japan and she looks very smooth in the water finding her rhythm early on and there we can see how the men have got a breakaway of two and there's a trailing group but the women still very much bunched together yeah when you generally see it bunched it often means that well you can look at it two ways you can say that they're fairly even across the field in terms of their swimming ability sometimes it can mean that the pace is off a little bit but when you tend to get the one long line the pace is on really really nice form being shown here by michael taylor of great britain leading this race and sitting right on his feet we've got the frenchman uh parking of france number 424 so it's great britain and france at the moment looking to try and clean this field out i want to try and get out of the swim and give himself every opportunity to go clear on the bike out of sight out of mind so good technique from both these swimmers and this is a sport that's what we call a tort sport so it's governed by hydrodynamics i.e it's governed by good technique well taylor very much finding his rhythm there and he knows that alex hank is the man to beat so if he can really put the pressure on early in the swim he's going to give himself the best chance of overcoming the defending well the the multiple world champion the frenchman but the frenchman right now alex hancock is sitting on the feet of michael taylor so he'll be taking full advantage of that draft that is available and it's interesting to see if we're going to see maybe a lead change if if taylor will be aware of that and whether he wants to drop back or he's just going to keep pushing the pace at the front and assisting hank in a sense at the moment yeah hank can quite if he can actually get up alongside here and just get on the hip which he's looking to try and do he'll get even more of a free ride here you want to try and get onto the hip of another swimmer almost getting that your extended arm out in front underneath the armpit of the swimmer in front of you and what michael taylor can do here too is maybe try and take him just on a just trying to shake him a little bit take him on a little bit of a zigzag and now we are starting to see the frenchman move alongside of him so how does he play this does he take the lead here or does he sit because if he does go to the front he will actually be using more energy than he probably needs to unless he genuinely believes that he can drop taylor and put some time into him well he was sat on his feet and then on his hips for quite a while so i wonder if he's taken advantage of that time when he was feeling a little easier see um michael taylor's just lost his hat hopefully his goggles are staying on because that's far more important for him but he's just dropping back and it looks to say the frenchman has decided to up the pace and i have a feeling he's making a tactical move here coming into the boy yeah and a good thing here he'll accelerate quickly out of this turn and there we go we see that little gap open up very hard now to get back on and so it is taylor who's just in a little bit of difficulty he's gonna have to work here if he can just get on those feet he will get sucked along but the frenchman look at that lovely really good distance per stroke limiting that arm turnover good swim from the frenchman well it was very tactical wasn't it he sat on the feet of michael taylor really taking full advantage of that and just not exerting himself too hard swimming at the pace that was comfortable and then he decided he wasn't going to allow the same thing to happen to him so he used and then off he went but we're back to the women's race here and it looks as though that is the cap of hata yukaka we saw taking a very early lead we'll get a wider shot in a moment we can see just how much of a gap she has opened up but from this shot there's no one taking advantage of the draft from her feet the big question over the pure swimmers often in the sport of triathlon is how good is their running those that tend to come from a swimming background tend to tend to have what we call quite high hyper mobility and they do take time to learn how to run they're in a sport that's non-weight-bearing and then suddenly they've got to get into a sport that is weight-bearing ie running and it takes a long time to learn how to become a good runner but some big gaps beginning to open up in that men's race and we are seeing the japanese competitor hata out on her own and come back through the field and going past one of her male compatriots 428 is mikhail kulmakov and this is one thing that the women are going to have to be mindful of is that they are at points going to have to come through some of the back markers in the men's race and equally we're going to see a lot of the men later on in this multi-let course having at times going past some of the women and some of the back markers in the men's race so that is another dynamic as well yeah it's going to start to get sort of more complicated to watch but also the athletes are going to have to say have their words about them especially on the bike when you've got various different speeds going at the same time but right now at the front of the swim it is hank and quan who's looking comfortable but taylor hasn't dropped off so much more since we last saw him so i think he's found his own rhythm not quite taking advantage of the feet of the frenchman but holding his own and there's going to be very little between those two as they come towards the finish of the swim and into the first transition well having said that as we pan back the gap has just opened a tiny bit more taylor his stroke looking as though he's fading slightly his right arm just not having the same clearance of the water that it did at the beginning and that's just a sign that he maybe did go out a little bit harder than he intended trying to stick with the frenchman take full advantage he just needs to settle down here now would you say unlike swimming in a pool there's no black line to follow there are no lane ropes they're having to lift their head every seven to eight strokes in fact if you have a look at the frenchman here every second stroke he's just lifting slightly these conditions allow him to do that and so no black lines so they have to navigate themselves their way around this course they're in control of their own destiny so making sure that your goggles are clear you'll see a lot of athletes in transition often putting things like baby oil or some sort of vaseline to prevent the chafing the danger in that is you can get it on your hands you can get it into your goggles but it can also affect your feel in the water so all these little things they do need to just be thinking about prior to the start of the race but really really good swim from alexi hankincomp of france the three-time world champion he is doing it comfortably and michael taylor of great britain hanging tough well at the moment it does look as though it's a two-horse race and coming into this the pods were on for the frenchman and it's going to be a chase but a great start by taylor we saw komikov earlier on just being overtaken by the women now he's another one to watch swim not his strongest event but we'll see him flying up through the field on the bike and the run and it's the same for wang of china sanchez palomero we'll expect to see them making moves as we progress to the next two phases of this men's pts4 triathlon i love the fact this is old-school racing swim and then a bike no drafting and we get into the run we'll you'll see at the summer games with the able-bodied athletes drafting on the bike and what that basically meant is that really it became a swim runners race you definitely couldn't win the race in the swim but you could certainly lose it if you're 45 seconds down out of the water then generally it was always going to be pretty hard to be competitive that's not the case here if you're a strong bike rider you are going to be able to move your way back up through this field if you're perhaps not such a strong swimmer and so we are about to see the first of our athletes exit the water here day four tokyo 2020 the paralympic games well here we go the volunteers the officials all they're ready to assist the athletes and guide them into that first transition t1 as it's known in triathlon and it is alexi hanconquant who is first out of the water he'll just get that is just simply remarkable and this is the hardest part too what you understand is that you're lying horizontal on the water and your heart rate's high because you are working really really hard but it's a non-weight-bearing sport then suddenly you've got to get up into that vertical position and everything suddenly becomes weight bearing so your heart rate goes up another 10 beats and what i efficiently say you'll see some of sport's best ugly faces and i mean there's a term of endearment because suddenly they're really having to find the oxygen and you'll see them grimacing some people refer to it as a war face great swim from taylor though 29 seconds down he's got some work to do he is one of our favorites out there all the athletes here will want to take a little bit more time making sure that they've got their prosthesis on correctly because obviously once on the bike it's much harder to adjust you'll see all sorts of aerodynamics come into play now and it's an interesting one the dynamics on the bike in terms of the way you set yourself up but taylor really strong in the upper body we're mentioning the bikes those of you who might have watched draft legal triathlon that we've mentioned this being non-draft legal means they'll be on time trial bikes so you'll see a very different setup as you might start to notice you can see the aero bars already there on taylor's bike it's a really good point that you do make in what we see traditionally in triathlon in the draftking races is that you can't have the aero bars you can't have anything that extends beyond the brake hoods where those brakes are attached to the handlebars because the fact they do ride in bunches it's a safety factor but now we're going to see the carbon wheels we're going to see the deep rim carbon wheels the stiff frames they'll be riding a little bit further forward on their seat and they will be now just locking themselves in the hurt box and really just time trialling now over 20 kilometers but good to see palmeiro sanchez palmeira who is a good swimmer third out of the water at the moment so palmeiro comes out in a time of 11 minutes 14 versus honky kong who came out in the time of 9 42 and we've just seen now i've just seen on our system here that wang has exited the water antonio of croatia has exited the water and both the americans have come out of the water as well so just three athletes in the men's race still remaining in that swim well the first woman coming towards t1 now and that is still a strong lead by hatta yukaka she has led from the start she's not had any assistance or anyone joining her she made that breakaway early on she's just on the feet of a couple of the men she's going to try and find a clear path onto that blue carpet it's a little tough here because she's obviously leading the women's event but she has got two other athletes alongside her just to make sure that she's aware that she looks for that assistant the assistant's ready and waiting to help the athletes get to their prosthesis if needed that is a great swim from harter brilliant swim almost catches her fellow countryman hideki yuda in the men's race have to re-emphasize this as the women's race is the pts too so their level of impairment is much greater than that of the men who are the pts fought so the higher the number or the lower the number the higher the level of impairment we just saw melissa stock well she was only 12 seconds back on hutter we thought that hutter might have had a slightly larger margin and stockwell one of the three strong americans is going to be one to really watch as this race progresses onto the bike beautifully set up honky quant the frenchman number 424 beautifully balanced bike rider just noticed that he's a little bit further on that seat sitting through the ford trying to get into an aero position but he does have to it is a technical course four laps of five kilometers so gear selection will be really important coming out of those turns don't want to be pushing too big a gear out of the corners you just want to be able to turn the pedals back over quickly but he's got his he'll be wanting to drink make sure he does stay hydrated it sounds easy it's not always that easy to do when you're under duress when you're in the fight our leading woman gap she had 12 seconds on stockwell and stockpile already making her way to that mount line so they athletes are not allowed to get onto their bike until they reach the mount line and for some of them this is one of the hardest sections as they don't have their prosthesis to make their way through transition the young italian is making up some ground there she came out there's a swim over 12 29 so 34 seconds off harter at the end of the swim but she's already looked to close that gap quite quickly just in the transition he's got that full disc wheel up to full speed now where a lot of technology goes into the bikes see the bottom part of the frame there that's what they call the bottom bracket that needs to be really stiff you don't want to have any movement through that you lose energy but he's peddling around about i would have thought 95 to 100 revolutions per minute so he's really nice smooth pedal cadence which says that he's not pushing too big a gear out of a seat coming out of that turn really good display of bike riding from the frenchman you can understand why he's won three world championships back onto the aero bar and they often talk about what's the best aero position the best euro position sometimes it's about the most comfortable knowing that you have to get off and run different if you're just a pure cyclist on the track yes you want to just make sure that you are aerodynamically sound well here's our women's leader hattie yokaka she managed to get out of transition but i don't think she's going to be in the lead for very long as we see plebani the italian just coming past our picture and there's the americans making some great ground but ronnie the blue tri-suit there just in front has overtaken hata to take the lead as they head out onto this 20k bike course and this is where we'll really see the changes depending on where that deficiency comes and obviously for hutter she is pedaling with one leg and we will see uh equally too we've seen a number of the swimmers whose amputation might have been swimming with just the one arm so it sort of balances itself out throughout this race but i'll still say it it'll ultimately i think be one in the run but honky can't well he just doesn't want to take any chances he just wants to continue to extend this lead very very smooth and so been a real revolution too in terms of the bike tyres and the pressure that they put these days in the tyres it used to be the old standard that you had the tyres really hard around 110 to 120 psi yet road cycling a lot of research being done then in fact around 80 psi which is much much softer is actually more effective more efficient and the wider width of tyre rolls better which almost is counter-intuitive from the science from 10 years ago so all of these things come into play in the sport is so much greater than the sum of its parts as we do have a look at downtown the japanese have been wonderful hosts could not get a friendlier friendlier nation well here we have the women's leader it was a very quick transition floor plebani but you'll notice she's opting to stay on a road bike so there's no tri-bars on the front of her bike so she's getting her aerodynamic advantage by riding on the drop so on the the the bar that's the lowest that can get her center of gravity low get her head lower and make herself her body into the most aerodynamic position possible but this bike could be used in a draft legal race as well so interesting it'll help her when it comes to the corners she'll be far more able to stay in that position and handle the bike well but on these long straights she might find it a little bit harder she's just come up onto the hoods there so again you talked about finding the position that's comfortable for you and the position that you can put the most power down as well yeah interesting too and clearly some athletes due to their impairment might not quite have the same degree of balance or what we call proprioception and there he goes alexis and through the first lap of 5k monkey went through that in 18 minutes 19 total race time at the moment for the frenchman so he's led out of the swim and he leads through the first lap of the bike they do come onto the blue carpet it will feel just like they will notice that the bike will just feel like it's going a little bit slower it's not the best surface to ride on at times but what they'll also be doing here is they'll get a bit of an environmental scan they'll do a lap and they'll go right where the where is the wind where are the environmental conditions what are these turns like what gear ratio was i on and then they start to replicate that they can start making decisions for the laps two three and four that still have to come with michael taylor from great britain as we get a beautiful great shot there isn't it of the bay hayley dance of the usa is making a strong move here early on in the cycle leg of this triathlon pabani not having anything to answer for the american the american on the aero bar so she's taking full advantage of that position getting down these long straights getting her head down and she won't want to let plebani take advantage of being in her slipstream at this point well she's not allowed to draft but you can still get a loose draft by getting close and you also get to key off as we see now one of our men coming back through and this is mikhail kolmakov of rpc he came out of the swim 14 minutes 15 so he was almost well he was yeah almost five minutes down on alexi honkycon our leader but he clearly believes that perhaps his strength lies on the bike but it is our two race leaders in the women's race the the pts2 and negotiating this 180 degree turn let's just have a look at the bike skills here just notice that out of the seat just trying to get that bike back up to full speed again well the athletes are allowed to be within 10 meters of each other no closer than that and you can still get an advantage so that's from the front wheel of one bike to the front wheel of the next and it looks as though plebani might be trying to just stay in that drafting area of dance and seeing if she can really benefit from that not letting her letting dance get out of touch just also helping her to know exactly where she stands in the race and preparing as they start to think about the next phase as well but at the moment it could be tactical from pabani to sit in that second place position just again just that fact you've got someone there you can just maintain that concentration but honkycon we'll try and give you an update too at the moment just going back to our system here i can tell you that michael taylor did come through from great britain we haven't seen him yet came through in second place through that first lap of the bike he is still my calculations about a minute and a half back down on this man on screen and then in third place it is alejandro sanchez palmeiro and not too far behind him we've got ji xiao wang of china who has been a silver medalist at the world championships back in 2019 so at the moment it's france great britain and spain one two and three on the road well honking quant does look in control you can just see the straw sort of dangling around in front of his face all that will be for the hydration so he doesn't need to take his hands off the bars he can drink in that position the same with wang he'll be able to make sure he stays hydrated see now wang we look here amputee but he will you would thought coming into the run he wouldn't then come into his own but he will struggle a little bit having to control his bike in and out of those 180 degree turns so the level of impairment as we've already alluded to there'll be certain parts in this triathlon where your impairment might not favor you there'll be other parts where you will get a benefit so it is still very much anybody's race at the moment but this is just a stunning ride from dance to united states she is really putting the power down isn't she here negotiating another one of those corners but there's plenty of flat straights as well and that's where dance is really taking the advantage of the aero position she's got the aero helmet on you can just see a slight movement of the head there but she's doing her best to remain as still as possible even interlacing her fingers at the front on those arrow bars a little bump in the road causing her just to change that position again but so little movement at the shoulders that's incredible discipline just what you've pointed out that is incredible discipline to stay that smooth and i will say this don't you'll see athletes sometimes as i said i use that term affectionately you have your ugly face on i.e what i mean by that is you're gritty and you're showing extenuating all you heard you know people gritting their teeth because they're in her never look so much at facial expressions always look at the form of a rider and it'll vary with these athletes in different ways but often upper body movement is a really good sign of saying i'm feeling good or i'm in a bit of trouble another way of starting to see whether athletes in a bit of difficulty you see them starting to change their gears a lot they can't quite fight one gear feels too hard the next gear feels too easy and they sort of find themselves in no man's land but this is a really really nice setup for the american she's done clearly a lot of homework in regards to customizing oh yeah she was the silver medalist in rio had her teammate one ahead one behind it was at least cecily we've not actually seen yet who was the gold medalist mate took the bronze so it was such a strong performance by america and they'll be looking to try to replicate that but it is dance who leads the charge for the usa and the women's race and there was c league just 14 seconds back for america 1-3 brown there with great britain just 34 seconds back and it's came on in this women's race it's going to be a beauty not much as we said swimming bike for show run for doe is the old saying is that going to be the case today or can one ride it just really make their mark on the bike and out of sight out of mind just a wonderful wonderful venue the idea but marine park good to see plenty of japanese out on the course too giving their support as we come back to the front of the men's race four two four there's the lexi punky quan you'll notice how the athletes tend to come out of the tri bars for these sharp turns onto the base bars there and that just gives them that more control of the bike they've got their hands near the brakes in case they need them hopefully they would have done any braking before the corners like driving a car you want to make sure that you're in that right gear and you're at the right speed before you actually hit the corner itself and then you can ride through it and power out of it like we saw the frenchman demonstrate perfectly there so honky comp coming back through transition to complete his second lap he'll have two more laps so he's through 10 kilometers and he'll be just knocking them off he'll just be working through this mentally at the moment he'll be aware of where his opponents are he'll have a game plan so i like the way he handles his bike and now waiting for our second place get up to come through now we can see melissa stockwell just going through at 202 now that's our first view of raquel mattiellotti spanish athlete riding her groove on the bike again opting for a time trial bike powering there as she comes out of the more technical section staying on the base bars and when it gets onto the straight she'll find her rhythm and then she'll get back onto that arrow position onto the tri bars they're really important coming out of those tighter corners you do use your gears it's no different than in a car when you slow down you're changing your gears aren't you and then as you start to build your speed you're going into sort of slightly harder gears if you're coming out of those corners not too often in the heart of gear it will hurt you it will just chip away at you particularly if it's a tight technical course but a good look here at aleandro sanchez palmeiro and it currently sits in third but we've yet to see michael taylor of great britain come through and complete his second lap so we've got a bit of a change in second and third we'll keep you updated on that but it is honky kong who is in complete control at the moment of this men's race the pts4 well taylor is interestingly coached by rhys davies the husband of vicki holland and the coach of vicki holland the great britain bronze medalist back in the rio 2016 olympic games so he trains some of the time with at the high performance center at the university of bath back in the uk and he took up power triathlon february 2017 and it was a try for tokyo event held at loughborough university in england so he received his first running blade in may 2017 and really hasn't looked back great to have him on the start line great to see him fulfill his dream from this moment on forever being a paralympian so it is sanchez palmero though that has gone through into second place and michael taylor officially in third so taylor went through in third completing his second lap in a total time of 28 minutes 31 and it was honkycomp who went through his second lap and 25 minutes 53 so it's work to be done by the englishman back to the women's race and the haley dance really has come through the early stages of the bike and just put the pedal down so to speak she navigates another one of those 180 degree turns starting to pedal as soon as she can see the exit point and putting a bit more power down and you'll soon see her get back into that brilliant position and there she is head down hands together and it's one of those things too you got to understand your course you've got to go away and go right what's this course look like right i now need to set my training up accordingly how many 180 degree turns i have as we have a look at brown here in pursuit from great britain how many 180 degree turns i have what are the straits looking like right types of work i need to do at a high aerobic state or at an anaerobic state where you get your heart rate up to the point that you are hurting you need to work on it you need to practice it show your body and training what happens on race day it's just no different than a dress rehearsal for a play well it's interesting seeing the first shot of fran bran and actually brown is the only one of the only athletes to have beaten dance recently it was at the grand final back in 2019 in lausanne that um dance was put down into bronze medal position behind her teammate celie and behind brian who we just saw will be looking to close after the swim well well and truly got the bike muscles working now i'll have that swim well and truly flushed out of the system it is hard sometimes a lot of blood and the swimmers in the upper body and then you get onto the bike and suddenly you've got to move it into the lower extremities and you can find that quite hard in terms of just lowering your heart rate but he's in what we'd probably call a high aerobic state here so if you were to talk to him you could probably hold a conversation you might get a little bit irritated by it but come the run they generally go to a much much darker place aerobically we really you just suffer the whole way well this being sprint distance triathlon everything is going to be at a slight more intensity than it would be over the olympic distance this is a 20k bike course that they are navigating at the moment they'll be following that up with a 5k run it just gives you an idea of the intensity half the distance of an olympic triathlon and that does not make it easier it just makes it more painful it might be a short amount of time you're suffering but you'll be suffering that bit harder so honky will come through to complete three laps but back to the front of the women's race certainly dan knows the challenges coming as you navigate a corner you you try to put the weight down through the outside leg now dance will find it as a result of that a little bit harder when taking corners on a right-hand bend so the left she'll most probably feel a bit more comfortable maybe take it with a little bit more speed because she can put the weight down through the outside the bike and just keep it a little bit more stable than she will when she's taking a right-hand direction if you have just joined us we've got the men's race the pts-4 and we've got the women's pts ii and so the lower the number the higher the level of impairment so that's what you are seeing women out here doing extraordinary things [Music] this is a wonderful example of it adjusting dance increasing her lead at the front she has not looked back coming through on lap number one so we'll get some splits shortly see just how much of a lead she's opened up she was out of the swim behind hatter yukaka didn't take her long to make their way to the front of the women's race and so just they were getting some splits coming through now yeah 12 seconds from brown and then seeley and then who we saw at one point lead this race briefly the italian japanese competitor hata yukako who led out of the swim but we've seen a number of lead changes as we go back through the field so very very good race developing for second third and fourth not lot in it look 12 18 and 22 seconds almost the difference between what they can do legally drafting and what they can't do so great discipline there as we had a look at honky kong coming through to complete his third lap and he's come through in a total time of 33 minutes 30 so we'll see if we can get a split shortly through two laps second place was aleandro sanchez palomiro of spain and then michael taylor of great britain this man has led from start to finish well he hasn't lead from start to finish he sort of let mike michael taylor of great britain probably lead the first 200 metres of the swamp before he decided enough was enough and then moved alongside of him and hit the afterburners this is where we mentioned that there's a few sort of things to consider for the athletes when they are competing alongside the women and you'll see on corners such as this when they're needing to overtake they might be riding at a different pace and it does just require skill but also requires the athletes to hold their line and make sure that they are not deviating from that so if an athlete is coming through they can get past and ideally make sure they're in the right position heading into the corner trying to take that wider line when possible to make those corners as smooth as they can and maintain that power and that speed that they've got going into the corner yeah what they call blocking so you do need to stay to one side but as they get tired too you um you've got to make sure you maintain that concentration you just see there on the front of his bike we saw sanchez getting on his hydration system but the tyre with fear of that bike will probably be about 25 mils the old standard used to be anywhere from 19 to 22 mils and that has been the real evolution and great example of it it's interesting too the importance of making sure they do stay hydrated it is very very warm here in tokyo incredibly humid but one thing to be able to drink and absorb fluid in training because most of the time when you're drinking and eating and training you're ruining what we call an aerobic state you're just sort of in the bunch or you're out there for a training ride and it's easy to absorb much harder to absorb fluid when you're on the aero bars like we're seeing here like we're seeing from michael taylor coming up on wang and then drinking and then trying to absorb when you're nervous your heart rate's high but as we alluded to earlier you've got to practice drinking eating under duress you really haven't it's important to make sure you get those fluids in on the bike once you get to the run when it's too late you need to this is the time when your heart rate might be slightly lower as well you haven't got the movement of up and down as much you get with the run but basically by the time you've got to the run you need to have any nutrition already on board when it's just a 5k so the bike is the time to do that and you have got to be disciplined you might not feel like wanting a drink you might not feel like you need one you might not right now but you're looking at the bigger picture you're looking towards the latter stages of the race where the intensity gets up so there we go 229 sanchez palomiro and we've seen another change so wang has actually moved in front of taylor rather than i thought there at one point taylor might be coming past wang but wang having a really really good race the man from china who has been second at the world championships back in 2019 so he does have pedigree he knows how to get the job done on the big stage says to me that he's mentally tough you're gonna need to be mentally tough when they get off the bike and get into that five kilometer run well at the moment it does look as though it's a bit of a battle for the silver and the bronze positions what's that man let's see it's just really opened up such a lead two and a half minutes almost on the rest of his competitors sanchez palomaro leading that chasing group good news for japan too hideki yuda currently sitting in fifth place beginning to make his move he was some way down out of the swim but he is really starting to make his move on the bike so the japanese will be urging him along they love this sport in japan they love their heroes been tough for them with covert but i do encourage people too if you are post the covert era ever thinking about coming somewhere for a holiday come to japan really progressive cities beautiful countryside and the most hospitable of people really has been a pleasure as we well look at the grit there that's what we talk about that's what i like it's what i affectionately with the greatest term of endearment what i call the ugly face we you're just gritting the teeth and you're really showing all that energy you're prepared to hurt you're prepared to suffer great example of it and it does dance back out still in front as she's been again incredible just how smooth she rides considering that really it's just the one leg that's applying all that power so she's having to counter balance you can see that how hard her core is working as well to try and maintain that position talked about some athletes maybe not able to have that control to hold in their aero position and you can see how her body is moving but she's trying to maintain that solid core position to allow the pure power to come down through the leg the glutes the hamstrings the quads working so hard whilst her core is trying to keep her in that brilliant aero position that she's adopted on those bars it's a really good point that you make with these athletes because as we said they'll all have impairments that are different so they need to go away and they need to strengthen those areas that they're going to rely heavily on well i think we just got a shot up the road there and that looked as though it could have been fran brown from great britain we haven't seen an update in the splits and we haven't seen a shot of the official leader with a graphic but i have a feeling that dance might have just been pushed back down into second place because that looks as though it could be brown just up ahead of her now we saw brown coming through looking pretty strong in the shot previously so we'll wait to get an update on the standings but i think we could be seeing a few changes in the women's race stay with us because this is going to be an absolutely cracking five kilometer run they'll have four laps on the run quartz which means they will get a chance to look at each other but always reckon when you've got schleps too i've always find that mentally a lot easier i think a lot of athletes do you become familiar with it you can break it down and you hit a little bit more as we just pull back here and look at this wonderful venue a diver marine park downtown tokyo hazy but very warm very humid don't let those clouds deceive you almost felt even hotter this morning as a result of that hazy feel not a breath of air which the attics will be pleased for in the cycle won't be having to deal with any crosswinds especially some of those athletes choosing to ride the disc wheel just make it a little harder to control the bike when you've got winds coming from different directions if you've got a large side profile i just saw here we go now this is brown so she is our race leader so there we go we do have a change officially in the women's race it is fran brown of great britain now leading this woman's pts too as we go to the front of the race for the men and alexi honky comp the three-time world champion about to put his shoe on now let's see what he's capable of on the run swimming bike to show run for doe he's got 5k to win himself a paralympic gold medal he's going to need to concentrate he's going to need to maintain good form more importantly he's going to need to be patient well you'll notice just how quick he was through that transition and quite unique in the para triathlon field but alexey hong kong actually uses the same prosthesis for the bike and onto the run so he doesn't actually have to change his prosthesis over which saves him a huge amount of time and then we can just see on the other side just how close this race is on the women's side so not much in it between our two leading women but clearly this man in control of this men's race good three minutes clear is our understanding and that is simply remarkable that form looks really good he wants to try and stay tall never want to be sitting back in the bucket just think about staying tall trying to stay as relaxed as you can and so he has four laps of 1.25 kilometers and fran brown has made a decisive move in the women's race so as expected we have seen significant lead changes throughout the swim and the bike i've got a sneaking feeling these athletes are about to write another chapter as they start to think about the run second place man on the road is sanchez of spain number 421 he has middle previously at the paralympics in the sport of swimming backstroke bronze medal back in 2016. you can see a high cadence coming from sanchez and that's often a assign the athletes coming close to the run they might start to try to increase the cadence on the bike because it'll just make the transition to running that little bit easier because you're you want to try to replicate a similar speed of your leg movement on the bike to what you're going to be starting off on the run it will just make that transition feel slightly smoother going from two very from one very different sport to another yeah absolutely and and that's these are all the little things and i should apologize that fact sanchez won that bronze medal back in beijing in 2008 when he was purely a swimmer he was also fourth in the 200 individual medley back in 2008 fourth in the four by 100 medley relay but he has meddled at world championships in triathlon finishing second on the gold coast in 2018 and now let's just have a look his time will come up shortly so it was 41 minutes 54 seconds for hong kiko and alejandro sanchez palomero there will be a certain time map that he'll run over and we'll be able to get a bit of a feel for where he is at currently in that silver medal position back to the front of the women's race all right that's i think our second place athlete as we saw brown up the road and yet there's the leader just up ahead and dance might have lost the lead but it doesn't look as though she's lost too much in the way of time to fran brown of great britain that gap seems to have stayed pretty consistent since we last got a shot of the women's lead [Music] oh well so here we go the japanese athlete coming into transition as well so hideki of japan we know how good a runner he is too so it is france spain and japan now that gap between hunkycon and sanchez palmero in second according to my calculations is around about three minutes so three minute gap just under three minutes from first to second but today beginning to make his move now hideki is a minute in fact just 32 seconds down on alejandro sanchez palmero so game on settle back enjoy all of this it is day four tokyo 2020 the paralympics [Music] big chasing group as well just behind oda coming out of transition now led by wang but britain's michael taylor in there antonio franco also in contention we'll see if there's going to be some significant place changes again in this final phase of the men's pts4 well this is just who's prepared to hurt himself the most in the run it's tough it's a weight-bearing sport you're going to feel like you've got jelly and the legs coming off the bike it's a really strange feeling all a different muscle group you get off and you sort of feel like you're almost running through quicksand initially and then you've just got to try and think about your form think about coming right as this battle amongst our leading women continues it is still great britain over the united states dance sitting in that silver medal position at the moment she won the silver five years ago in rio could fran brown prevent her from going one step higher it's still early days so like we said and we've seen on the men's they head out onto the run a lot can change their we are seeing great form maintained by dance just like wobble there but she is spending most of her time on the aero bars and really not coming out of that aerodynamic position she's using that to her advantage she doesn't quite have the same power that fran bran is able to maintain on the bike but she's making as much of an advantage she can from limiting the aero drag let's have a look at fran brown let's have a look at the contrast here slightly more upright but that will suit her she realizes that i've got to come off this bike i can't come off sore i've got to come off feeling comfortable and you can see those deep carbon rim wheels there that seems to be the wheel of choice these days be a bit careful having the full carbon back wheel there is some science suggesting that unless you get it up to a certain speed it can actually slow you down a little bit sometimes do just these spoked carbon wheels you can throw them a little bit better out of the corners everybody will be slightly different and what they feel is the best for them just tell me look at the gear there so pushing a reasonably big gear you can well now here we go so dance perhaps just maybe on a slight downhill section there just making up a bit of time we do notice that dance once we start to come up on some of these inclines just struggles just loses a little bit of power on the slight inclines and we're about to see that again well she's got within that draft distance so it means that dance is going to have to make a move because she cannot sit behind brown within those 10 meters otherwise she is susceptible to getting a drafting penalty so she's made a move going over the river now over the bridge and she's got to maintain that to make sure she gets that 10 meters in front and then brian will have to back off and ensure that she stays the safe distance behind i don't want any drafting penalties you can see the moto we're obviously getting the pictures from the motorbike and the motor rider but there'll also be a referee out on the motorbike keeping an eye that the athletes maintain these rules yeah the nice thing here is they're not really big big deep fields i mean you've got 10 to 12 of the very best athletes in the world which means that there is plenty of room on the course to make sure that you don't draft sometimes when you get the much bigger races you can do everything you can to try and keep out of the way but it doesn't always happen so just having a look at that gear setup you'll often hear in cycling talking about gear ratios you'll hear somebody saying i pushed a 5311 and what that means is the big chain ring on the front it's got a certain number of teeth normally standard road bike is 53 and then on the back you've got what we call a block of chain rings and the smallest one which is your hardest gear might be an 11 so you'll often hear the gear ratio i was in a 53-11 so you're in your hardest gear and you'll use that on downhill or if you've got a tailwind behind you but some of these athletes will be in what we probably call a mid-range gear maybe a 53-15 so a cog in the middle at the back [Music] you can see brown trying to maintain the arrows staying on one arrow bar and one baseball around that corner and the judders under the carpet just making it slightly harder to keep the position not wanting to waste any time but now to come into slight dissent as they come back through towards the end of another lap both athletes opting just to have their hands hovering over the brakes you don't want to use the brakes unless really necessarily because you're obviously going to be decreasing the speed and losing some of that power and the effort you've put in earlier on honky con or france completing the lap now he'll look up on the scoreboard that'll boy that'll be real motivation for him out to his left-hand side he'll see the finish line at some point he'll be visualizing possibly a gold medal going around his neck that'll give him a huge huge boost got to control the emotions so adrenaline will pick you up can also bring you down so just think about form doing a really good job at the moment and again look at that face it doesn't show too much you wouldn't want to sit at a poker table with them would you but to the front of the women's race it is the united states haley dans well that was obviously a tactical move from dan seeing her overtake brown coming into the final stages of the bike she just wanted to put the marker down and say look i'm still in this race and i'm gonna lead out of t1 t2 sorry and you're gonna have to chase me down any dance really showing the grit and determination here that we see demonstrated by all these athletes really good running form from here too it's with us she can maintain that it's really easy to come out of transition and as i said you've got to control it you know we see a lot of athletes getting caught up by the crowds by the occasion and you can get this big adrenaline kick and you sort of almost want to put an exhibition on and it will ultimately end up working against you later on you've got to try and stay nice and even nice and balanced as we see more of our women coming in so brown 11 seconds back and these are the athletes vying for third and fourth gold pavani was strong coming through that first transition came out of the swim in second place and where did the lead momentarily but still very much in touch as they prepare for the running leg but it's the man sanchez who is sitting currently in that third metal bronze medal position well the japanese yeah look at that he's going to just enjoy the local support that he is getting now he wants to try and take the straightest line cut the apex if he can a good performance they love their running here in japan they love their distance running they have a thing here called the ekadan relays big corporate so right out in front it's france second place it is japan and third it is spain oh just taking a look here that is the difficulty but he gets himself back up honky well just touching that white paint on the road so he'll he'll remember that he'll now make a little mental note and he'll have to just think about that difficult but he got straight back up so plenty of courage from the frenchman nice thing is he's got a comfortable lead here at the moment it's getting all the support from those supporters who have been able to make it down to the outside of these closed roads loving every moment of these paralympic games now he's about to come past wang now people might think well look wang's a long way back remember this lap is only 1.25 kilometers a lap so it's not a lot of time in the context of this race so it is uder three minutes 38 seconds down and now sanchez having to fight further eight seconds back to sanchez and it will be wang who we just saw still sitting in fourth michael taylor of great britain was in fifth sanchez still looking comfortable and i don't think uder is going to be safe in that silver medal position and he'll know just how strong sanchez palomero can be you can see the water sprayers they're just trying to keep the athlete's core temperature down as the heat will just continue to rise throughout the day [Music] he'll come down he'll get the bell at the frenchman and then he will have just over one kilometer of this journey remaining so he comes through in a time of 54.55 and it is the frenchman who is running his way to a paralympic gold medal back to the front of the women's race though well haley dance just having a glance over her shoulder she'll be aware that there's some stronger runners in the field but she won't know quite how much of a margin she managed to open up from that bike leg she's going to need to make sure she paces this goes out strong enough to not give her competitors too much of a sight once an athlete behind could get a sight on you then they'll have that to target but dance will be doing her best to make sure she can maintain this gap she did a tactical move just to the final stages of the bike and came out of transition 11 seconds ahead of fran brown who she sat behind for the majority of the bike ride and sometimes athletes too they like to empower themselves you know they like to run from the front they're more comfortable running from the front as we look at brown still maintaining really good form though this is going to be a very good race the united states also in third place by the looks of it back there now brown just having a bit of a bit of a walk here so in a bit of difficulty a little bit of difficulty for brown it's going to have to continue because she's about to find herself in third fifth place or fourth place very shortly because flabbini of italy is about to move into second seeley the united states well she's about to move into third if brown can't find the energy to pick her running back up she looks like she's moving again though she'll know what she's what her body is capable of and she'll be working around that so jorge luis fonseca of brazil coming through to complete a lap of the run and this will be his second lap he will complete so he'll have two laps remaining four font c cup we still haven't seen buddha hideki come through to complete his third lap as we go out in front though it is the frenchman alexi honky comp of france in control pretty much from start to finish a dominating display 35 years of age well he's starting to revel in the moment i think and on this final lap why not have a smile give the supporters a wave as he knows he is on the way to the top spot of the podium yeah very very good display great performance wow that is remarkable and really now enjoying it and why not it's been five years in the waiting for this moment for him and he wants to take in the plaudits and the national anthem of france well it'll ring out a little bit later on and around this remarkable venue in downtown tokyo japanese out in numbers acknowledging a world-class athlete a man who has set the standard for so long as we see wang of china and wang currently sitting in fourth place so he has been lapped but it will be the frenchman who resides in ruan in france who is about to come down and be crowned paralympic champion what a dominant performance and he can now enjoy all of that hard work as it pays off grinning ear to ear and you would be too well it's a performance he won the world championships in rotterdam in the netherlands in 2017 he won the world championships in the gold coast in 2018 world champion lasagna in switzerland in 2019 and now alexi honky kant is about to add the biggest prize in the sport to his cv he's about to be crowned paralympic champion stand up france a great moment a dominant display alexi honkycon will forever be alexi honkycon paralympic gold medalist a dominant display wonderful performance [Music] sheer emotion of that moment the work you put down early on on the bike you could see the pain face once or twice as he was working hard holding that aero position and it meant that he could enjoy the last lap of the run pretty much a victory lap for the frenchman just breaking the one hour as well a great time to go with it oh yeah you'd probably be thinking about that afterwards it was a great thing isn't there you see a lot of these times and world's fastest times being set world records and you talk to any athlete well they'll come and go but that cold middle will last forever and we could have a really special moment for japan shortly because when we went through that last time it was utah who was in second place will be open for for the swim warm-up we'll just go back and have a look at that moment and look what it means to him the swim course is open for ptv coming as the number one ranked death flick ptv but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to win because the paralympics is so much greater than the sum of its parts now we are waiting for our silver medalist he was facing he's got two sons and he's about to come down nazi nuda still waiting for a visual of him as we look back over the sadaiba and here he is simply 34 years of age he originally played able-bodied football at high school after his accident he took up swimming as part of his rehabilitation and was encouraged to try power triathlon very personally he met at the swimming pool he said that he could run due to his experiences in football and he was swimming so he told me that i'd be able to do triathlon if i could ride a bike and so the rest is history he's got a really really encouraging philosophy i like this what makes your life is what you did in your life [Applause] there are sanchez of spain in the bronze medal position has been on the podium in his home country of japan just earlier this year when he won the bronze at the yokohama world triathlon para series he's going to go one better one further step up the podium at a competition far larger and far more significant in his career the paralympic games they're fourth at the world championships in lausanne in this event in 2019 fourth in the gold coast fourth in rotterdam in 2017 and now the breakthrough performance on the biggest stage silver medal will go the way of japan will go the way of uda hideki 34 years of age married with two kids wonderful moment for the home nation look what it means to him you sense that he's in tears well goosebumps here how special [Music] and sanchez will be your bronze medalist he's been good all day slightly down out of the swim made his move on the bike held it on the run a very good run today today and you can see to the silver medal he won on the gold coast in 2018 at the world championships [Music] so it'll be france japan and spain if they are your middle east they write their own chapter look at the emotion from uder though look what it means to him wow [Music] years and years of hard work and all just get repaid very special moment the fourth place goes to wang ciao from china very strong finish for the chinese that 5k run but not enough to catch but the women's race still very much underway and seeley has been working her way through the field on this run leg strongest of the three legs for the american the defending paralympic champion is she going to run out of space out of meters out of kilometers to close the gap enough to see if she can defend that title well great performance isn't it there's so many lead changes just compelling triathlon as we see franco come down to finish in fifth place the croatian athlete antonio franco antonio franco from croatia breaking the tape at 5 51 in our men's pts eric mcelveen only took to this distance of racing when he found out the event was going to be held at the paralympic games has raced several iron man including completing the course at kona he was just delighted too have the opportunity to compete at the paralympic games a very respectable performance in his debut representing the united states so our top top six finish for him back to the front of the women's race now this is where it starts to hurt they're at that threshold where there is no plan b now it's about just hanging tough and what i officially call being locked in the hurt box and it's a dark place it's a place few people know how to go to but once you're in it you've got to stay in it and that's what separates good from great how long you can stay there well the leader haley dance is being chased down by her compatriot alicia seely i'll get to see the time difference when they complete the third lap but it is dance who's been consistent throughout this race she had a very tactical bike ride just going back into the lead ahead of fran brown who's dropped off now in the run last time we saw brown she was taking a short walking before returning to her run gate but you can see the face of dance now just trying to grit those teeth she'll know that celie will be chasing her down pabani also one of the chasers currently sitting in third position [Applause] fourth at the world championships in lasagna in 2019 seven in 2017 and eighth in the gold coast so is she looking for that breakthrough performance well here we see celie and just ahead there's the lead cyclist so celie will now have her eyes set on dance and this could be a repeat of rio 2016 is celie gonna chase down and retain that title hayley dance has led for so much of this race but celie looking maybe the more comfortable of the two runners right now yeah certainly her form looks very good celie she looks like she is moving a little bit quicker and now this is where dance is going to have to be a little bit careful you talk about the degree of impairment and how at certain points on the course certain parts will favor an athlete certain parts will work against them and i just think on the downhill layer vance just having to be a little bit more mindful but she'll get a sense she'll have the big screen coming up shortly so she'll have a wee look they'll come through they will get the bell lap but it is game on what a race representing the usa between the americans for the last laps alyssa sealy coming up onto the tail one way you can relax the shoulders is just take your thumb and your forefinger and hold them together like you're pinching a stick now we're about to see a lead change just absolutely update just six seconds and i think that's already been shrunk has got her sights firmly set on dance and she is just eating up the ground and i think it's gonna not be more than a few seconds before we do see a new leader and it could be the lead for the very first time for seeley in this race and the most important time the final lap of the run just over a kilometer to go and has she timed it to perfection oh she has and look at her form too when she goes past you want to go past quickly and you want to go past on the outside and at some point one of these athletes will say second is good enough because that can just be the nature of it but this is a really good performance coming from plavani of italy yet to get yourself on the podium at a major world championship event we've just seen japan do it on the men's side and are we about to see veronica yoco plebini have that breakthrough performance when it counts the most on the biggest stage the paralympics well here comes the move now celie onto the shoulder of dance and she's not going to hang around there she took her time she chose her moment and she has made that move and dance will know that she's just got to hang on and try to maintain that silver because you can see the different gates between these two athletes the higher prosthesis for dance just making it that much more demanding when it comes to the run but barney's still with over a minute back on those two but she's looking comfortable she is comfortable she's still got an opportunity to run herself into second place here because she's just sort of since with hayley dance once she lost that lead how does that affect her psychology you know she's been empowered for so long by being out in front as we just go back and reflect on a really special moment for japanese [Music] a little bit here in the commentary box when we saw the japanese athlete crossed the line such was the emotion that he showed and knowing how important this is event to the people of japan the people of tokyo now dan she's going to have to stay focused here she's going to have the italian breathing down her neck very shortly so she's got to hold it together she'll be playing the head game here she'll know that she'll just be knocking this 1.25 kilometers off and bouts of 100 meters let's get from this lamppost to the next one let's get from this crossing to the next one play it break it down and there it is so levine still got some work to do but it could be a really close finish for second and third well at the moment we've got a replication of the podium positions for the first two that we saw in rio it was it alyssa seeley who's on the way to defend that title she won five years ago haley dance won the silver but this woman melissa stockwell won the bronze back in rio and it's looking as though she's going to be just shy of the podium she's got a lot of work to do if she's going to be in chance of keeping it a clean sweep for the usa about to get lapped here by our race leader celie hayley seeley and then so we're going to see three americans on the course but one will still have a lap to go but celie looking stronger and stronger looking comfortable still hold holding good form but do not underestimate just how much suffering is going on you have to have a head like granite at this level of the sport wonderful athleticism here from mateo of spain overcoming adversity at the highest level the people of japan certainly will be acknowledging and appreciating her performance that does look as though veronica pabani will be settling we'll be taking that bronze if she can maintain that pace fran brown has dropped off in the run she was the leader coming into that second transition but now seeley about to lap her teammate stockwell and we'll see the teammates if they've got any energy left to give a few encouraging words to each other oh here just getting rid of the cool ice packs that they've been using to keep themselves under their core temperature under control celie though has had this race under control she's bided her time she's come through when it counted we didn't see her featuring in the front pack of the swim we didn't even see her really dominating until the second stage of the run and now this race has been paced to perfection the defending champion the paralympic gold medalist from rio 2016 is starting to enjoy the moment the smile the grimace is turning into a smile as she sees the finish line tape and realizes she is going to be crowned the paralympic champion of tokyo 2020 and the women's triathlon the pts to alessia seeley paralympic champion for the second time oh that is remarkable it's one thing winning one but to defend but how gutsy has this woman be well here now haley dance has really gone from the front of this race she put the market on she set that target for alicia seeley and she has fought every step of this run she came into the t2 with a lead hung on for the first couple of laps but now what a fight it's been tiller finish for haley dance she crosses the line to win the silver medal adding to that silver she won five years ago she congratulates her teammate alyssia c lee they've been here before the gold and the silver five years ago that it's just wonderful images isn't it the two americans rivals for an hour and 14 and then great friends what a story this is though for the italian flavini veronica there's been probably the most consistent athletes around this field today we've seen her in a medal position for the majority of the race and we've seen her smiling for so much of the race she has been really accelerating throughout her career the last couple of years and it's all come together for this moment to win the bronze medal at the paralympic games what a special time this is for the young italian just 25 years of age and getting breakthrough performance for the italian wonderful wonderful moment for her and now the tears will float all those years and i imagine she's probably had some testing times as we go back and reflect on history being made from sealy what a race time to perfection by she's done it before she knew what had to be done but it's been an incredibly tough year diagnosed with endocarditis back in july of last year and only actually returned to training in february of 2021 so it's going to make that win that much more special well dan she can't go home she gave it everything all you can do in a situation like this is shake your opponent's hand and go i was just simply out class today because boy she took it to everyone didn't she she really asked questions of celie she really asked questions of labani [Music] and i like the fact that flabani you know fourth at the world champs in 2019 seventh and eighth back in 217 and 218 has podiumed at the european championships but what a moment for that breakthrough performance she would have had times in her career whether she would have doubted herself someday she would have struggled to get out of bed but through all the adversity she stayed true to herself she's hung tough and she's rewarded today with her moment in history a very special moment for the young italian competed at the winter paralympic games in sochi back in 2014 in the snowboarding but it's this one that she'll remember and she'll come onto the podium to collect that bronze we will bring you the middle ceremonies for the men's and women's races and we still got two more races to bring to you here on day four of tokyo 2020 the paralympics as we go back and have a look at more of our competitors japanese athlete hata here yukako hata and we've got gabatova of rpc as well so yukaiko hata 40 years of age so remarkable a real veteran we saw the dominance of her swimming skill early on in this event led from the start and was first out of transition yeah she had represented japan and paris swimming she won a silver at the 2010 asian para games in guangzhou well here comes fran brown really worked hard on this run she's done so much to improve her running over the last couple of years she still had to use the run walk strategy the heat here really challenging all of the athletes but still looking so composed of great britain she had a strong bike led for much of the bike didn't manage to hang on quite enough for the run but still such an achievement for this athlete she only managed to complete a full 5k without walking a year ago and it's been a goal of hers she has now just completed a triathlon at the paralympic games what an achievement that will be four great britain i think there's a lot to like about brown she's got really really good running form you talked about the struggle to really sort of get on top of this run three years to paris lookout the form suggests that if she just continues to do the work she will get the running results because her form is simply remarkable her running form and don't underestimate that as we look at the courage here of mateo of spain look at look at that you talk about the pain face that's a great example of it we also see here veronica gabitova so 24 years of age so relatively young in comparison to some of her fellow competitors heading through there with a couple of laps to go here we can see that it's veronica she has been once again the unofficial results in the gold medal world championships way back in 2014 and managed to pick up a third place at the european champs in kitsbill as we just confirmed those results for you so that winning time of 114.03 and the third of the americans coming down now unofficial results and now we get melissa's stopping to finish in fifth place the united states of america retired army veterans stockwell paralympics bronze medalist five years ago but it doesn't look as though there's any disappointment for melissa stockwell she is reveling in the moment enjoying every single second of this sprint distance triathlon look at that smile just delighted to be here representing the usa she has done so much for the sport of paratriathlon well it's just a remarkable two you know paralympians for the rest of their life it's it's one thing getting here you want to get on the start line once that race goes no one can ever take that away from you just listen in here well you are a hero and you are a champion well done on your fifth place left of her take journey last in fact one more lap my apologies and she will get to have a look up on that monitor she'll see that finish line and that boy that'll just drive her home she'll be now familiar with the 1.25 kilometer course so mentally she'll be making that adjustment grueling prevent the triathlon and as the time ticks on the heat will increase here in tokyo as well another athlete who's going to be battling with that heat i need to make sure that she's getting in hydration required and look at stockwell ladies and gentlemen finished her race but still the capacity the energy to cheer on her teammates or her competitors not even the same nation but it just shows the camaraderie between all of the athletes who compete on the circuit and so many of them not been able to compete for so long well over a year for international competitions for some of these athletes who've just struggled to travel due to the coveted restrictions and this making the paralympic games an even more special moment we will bring you later on this morning to the races for those athletes with visual impairments what they call the pt one through three and the pt and so that'll be fascinating they'll have guides and they'll be on tandem bikes so we look forward to that and those athletes for the game we'll be getting plenty of input from their coaches in regards to their coaches observing what they've just seen and relaying saying hey there are certain things we think you need to be aware of so still a lap to go out on the course for a couple of our athletes in the women's pt s2 we've got veronica gabatova still out on the course but they'll be getting plenty of encouragement from a very good crowd that have turned up early here in testing conditions certainly hope you have enjoyed the coverage of the women's pts-2 and the men's pts4 the second edition at the paralympics and history being written again by sealy becoming the first athlete to defend her title japanese will be urging her on she took up the sport in 2013 in chiba japan previously a paris former she considered quitting her sporting career after failing to qualify for the 2012 paralympic games in london but she came interest in triathlon after learning after learning people at her swimming club also competed in triathlon events her most memorable moment up to this point is winning gold at the 2015 world series event in yokohama japan well she came home in sixth place at the rio paralympic games and it looks as though she'll be [Applause] able to add another sixth place finish to her paralympic resume i love your philosophy everything exists under the same sky you're well said indeed when she's not doing triathlon hobbies include fine dining and cooking who doesn't like a bit of fine dining i wouldn't mind getting invited around to a place to be fair i mean if you're competing in triathlon you could probably afford to to put in the calories of a few fine dining meals especially after this performance here today so she races for the canon marketing japan club and the coach is tomikawa masamitsu now another really good performance coming here from veronica gabatova the finish line awaits for raquel matteo muriati of spain hata yukako of japan and veronica gabatova the three athletes still out on the course as we now see hata coming into the finish area and she will get a huge round of applause from all the officials volunteers out here on the course boys she's represented pam with real distinction today you'll see her eyes glance towards the finish line maintaining that concentration there we go she just looked up she could see the end is in sight you can see the determination the pain coming through the face as she makes those final few strides of this 5k run body will be screaming all the muscles working to their maximum and it's just a matter of there we go the grit of the teeth the grim is turning to a smile and she makes those final few steps and crosses the line in complete exhaustion six competing in our home games that's got to have been inspiration for the last five years of training speaking of inspiration spain incredibly proud of raquel matteo uriati she'll come around the corner and she'll know that she doesn't have long lift on her journey down this final little bit of a decline and she can see veronica gabit over there just in front of her and so our last two athletes out on the course will come down [Music] my apologies does have two laps to go on the scores so showing plenty of courage wonderful wonderful athlete oh now raquel matteo 46 years of age and has been was eighth in rio de janeiro fifth at the world championships on the gold coast in 2018 and she has meddled in the european championships which she did in 2018 so she knows what success does feel like tough day for her today in very humid conditions one thing i like about it if we left we've seen here her form hasn't changed she's certainly got a rhythm and she's stuck to that rhythm for every stride also cycled for spain muscle working the arms playing a bigger part in this run event than some of the other athletes in those final steps and elation relief exhaustion for raquel mateo iriati but ultimately smiles and emotions as it dawns on her just what she has achieved i'll be tough day too there'll be all sorts of emotions the fact that you've completed another race and then did it go to plan but it's what it means to these athletes five years waiting five years of adversity at times and to be able to overcome and to be able to step up on the biggest stage in the world very good performance and so veronica gabatova the athlete's still out on the course i'll tell you what i'm not just knowing my time here in japan japanese will just be urging her along really encouraging it idyllic conditions [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh wow [Music] wonderful images wonderful images here in downtown tokyo day four of the paralympic games a really special moment for france on the men's side united states on the women's side we'll bring you those middle presentations shortly still to come we have the athletes with a visual impairment racing over a 750 meter swim a 20 kilometer bike ride and a five kilometer run and i deal it but testing conditions as we come back to veronica gabitova the last athlete out on the course so much courage 24 years of age she resides in moscow i love her nickname she's known as the monster of triathlon and she is a sociology major out of moscow state university of humanities and economics races for the youth of moscow club coached by marina nikitina she made her international debut in 2014 for russia at the european championships in kidsfield austria kidsville of course known for its uh downhill ski race probably and she holds the russian sports title master of sport and paris swimming took up the sport in 2014 and her ambition and her goal was to compete here in tokyo well she's achieving that she's achieved that keep an eye on it just 24 years of age got a big future in the sport she's maintained that rhythm throughout the 5k run she will have paced this distance trained at this distance for many years she'll know her body is more than capable of reaching that finish line and it's now just a matter of concentrating on that stride it suffers from cerebral palsy so we've seen a number of athletes amputees competing and so they will classify these athletes based on that level of impairment so look at this great from the japanese crowd here this is brilliant wonderful stuff they love this sport here they understand what they're watching they understand the barriers that these athletes have had to overcome to get her on the start line working through the pain that you have at the end of a triathlon everything hurts you're just doing your best to keep your body moving forwards getting ever closer to that finish line as she comes through the sprays the cooling water i think she'll be happy that she's on the descent area of this run course she can just sort of just relax a little bit more let's just gravity take over here and she'll come around this little left-hand turn and she'll see the finish line and she would have achieved her ambition of not just competing here in tokyo 2020 but finishing like all the other athletes she will either be forever be a paralympian and i'll only be able to take that away from her from now our technical officials will be in position to get our races underway on time today so already experiencing a fantastic morning here we can expect to see the special moment for veronica gabitova she makes that final corner in these final few meters complete debut performance at a paralympic games that concentration has not faltered all that hard work finishes knowing that these last few years that have been a struggle for all the athletes trying to get to training get to competitions paralympic committee exhausted she has given it absolutely everything one more time gold medalist alexis taking the victory today the gold medal yeah keep an eye on this youngster three years from now in paris it's been a tough five-year wait due to covert but the benefit is that it's only a three-year wait now to the next game so an opportunity for those athletes to possibly continue to build on the momentum as we just confirmed the results the lexus hunky of france taking the gold medal in the men's great performance from uta hideki of japan the silva alejandro sanchez palmeiro winning the bronze france japan and spain and then on the let me just look across this haze here as we confirm those women's results for you melissa seeley winning the gold medal defending her title that she won in 2016 in rio hayley dance here fellow country woman picking up the silver and then a breakthrough performance from verona fran brown keep an eye on her in three years time her running form is good she just needs time and i think she'll be a game changer so this will be the visually impaired athletes up next in both the men's and women's we'll have ptv v1 and ptv 2 and ptv3 we will explain the staggers for you so the lower the number the greater level of visual impairment so this is new to tokyo the level of impairment to try and make it a level playing field [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] in first place in the gold medal and also in the gold medal position elizabeth so congratulations and the medal ceremony to medical victories will be coming up at 10 o'clock today foreign so once again mickey there we are right in front of the rainbow bridge right here in tokyo bay on a beautiful morning we've already had our first session underway that was our men's bts4 and pts2 for our women and what great races that we have this morning all right let's go over and have an explanation of the ptpi in our men's category and the ptpi in our women's category right now so in our ptpi category in our men's we can tell you that we have a start with 10 athletes today 10 athletes will be starting up we'll have four athletes they'll be getting off to zero start sorry six athletes getting off into zero start and then four athletes will be starting at three minutes and 21 seconds in arrears now when you talk about it you have severities in the eye so when i say btvi one it is a blind category ptv i2 it's in the medium range of impairment and the least impairment is the btbi three so they will be the ptbis will be starting our first the twos and the ptbi threes will be starting out at three minutes and 21 seconds down on our levers one more time we're going to be starting out with 10 athletes focus on that blue dot it's all visually impaired nothing to do with the arms nothing to do with the limbs they are just visually impaired now you can see that they'll be riding on the tendon bicycle then they'll be tethered up on the run from the hip or from the wrist and you see that that vi visual impairment it is the same rules as the men's race they'll be racing together they'll be tethered up in the swim here today also on the bike they'll be riding their tandem bicycles led by a guy today and then on the run again they will be tethered up with a rope or a spongy rope rubber rope which will keep them together they can never ever be towed around on the run course they'll have to stay a little bit behind their guide there mickey and make sure that they are making forward progress on their own so that's it for the ptvi visual impairment they will be competing with the guys so let's talk a little bit about our field today so in our ptbi section it is going to be very very closely contested kyle coons and andy pups from the usa are going to be in the race for our ptv eyes then we got hector catalon he's having a great season this year and looking to do very well here and then dave ellis don't forget about him he's a multiple uh you know paralympian as well especially in swimming but this time here for the very first time the ptvi men will be taking center stage and then in our women's pti category look out for defending champion katie kelly from australia the gold medalist and she is back but don't miss it this action is going to be on for young and old it's coming right up to ptvi men and ptpi women in just moments from now foreign [Applause] so ladies and gentlemen please welcome the race technical officials of the tokyo 2020 paralympic games tokyo foreign [Applause] leading the technical team today are technical delegates nicolas from greece melody tag from malaysia jorge garcia from spain pedro iii roz cabell from new zealand [Music] medical delegate medicare dr doug hiller from the united states of america [Music] the venue is the odaiba marine park the sport is the sport of triathlon it is day four of tokyo 2020 the paralympics and it is a warm day 28 degrees 88 humidity not a lot of wind and what when there is is coming from the east and it is now the turn of those athletes in the sport of triathlon with a visual impairment and we are so looking forward to this we've seen some exciting racing earlier this morning but it'll be the men and the women's now within each race there will be a different number allocated to the athletes based on the level of the visual impairment and i will just give you the official pair of triathlon classifications for ptv one that's athletes who are totally blind from no light perception in either eye to some light perception one guide is mandatory throughout the race must ride a tandem bike during the bike segment a guide from the same nationality and gender is mandatory throughout the run as we see the athletes now being introduced and so we just saw saturday at yoni oka saturday of japan and now we've seen anatoly varfola milive of ukraine kyle kuhn one of two americans and he'll be joined by this man brad schneider and his guide greg billington so there we go former world champion current world champion 2019 three-time world champion out of great britain dave ellis and jonathan growlash of australia his guide david mayne wearing duo is good mickey bartlett her guide first to be introduced we've got two british athletes in this competition melissa reid representing the ukraine vita alexia i don't know her guide big waves coming from the french team the ice fest on keeping her cool and the defending paralympic champion katie kelly with a new guide this time brianna silk for the tokyo 2020 paralympics susanna rodriguez the woman to beat all eyes will be on her and her guide sarah laura in in great form the last couple of years canada jessica trumella another one who's been improving rapidly over the last couple of seasons anna barbaro representing italy she'll be guided by charlotte bonning elizabeth baker she's teamed up with julian elliott as her guide and the usa also with two teams having a bit of fun there amy dixon supported by kirsten sass oh they certainly get high marks don't they for the introduction well i think japan have just taken it to the next level there at marrow atsuko and kurukshu hideko obviously here practiced that one i think in the rehearsal room and our final athletes representing the russian paralympic committee zenia bubonic and her guide yeah we will explain too that you will see a handicap system here on time so those athletes with a visual impairment of one will have blacked out goggles so they will not be able to see anything whatsoever those athletes that are at a level two or level three impairment meaning that they do have some site will start three minutes 21 back because clearly they are in greater control in terms of their own destiny in terms of getting around this course so thus we see some athletes starting three minutes 21 after other athletes as we just confirmed that start list for you both the men's and women's you might notice the time difference for the women a little bit longer 348 compared to 321 the handicap and that's due to the fact that the women's race just takes a little bit longer so it's all in ratio to the overall estimated finish times and just to reassure you those athletes that do start first as we said they will have blacked out goggles so that they will have zero sight throughout the swim they'll be relying on feel and they'll be relying on the communication which will come through touching etc from their guide [Music] this is an awful amount of courage required here a lot of belief in your guide kauhei [Music] yonioka satoro the japanese competitor tsubaki kohei 750 meter swim one lap followed by a 20 kilometer bike which will be four laps of five kilometers and then a five kilometer run four laps of 1.25 a lot of waiting a lot of nerves but not too far away from a start and just the first time this event for the men has been staged at a paralympic games so these athletes making history creating history writing a new chapter in the sport so i still got about a minute and a half to the start [Music] very warm conditions there's a certain water temperature below 22 degrees and you start to put athletes into wet suits that is not the case here so we will have this group of athletes starting and then we will have a further four athletes and their guides starting three minutes 21 back those athletes that fall into the visual impairment number two category so there'll be a lot of work done here between these athletes set for a start gold medal up for grab means ptv one through ptv three set for a start and dive in marine park the venue five years of waiting it's about to come down to this moment and we do get away and now like all athletes this is about having to stay in touch you will see their guides next to them and really it's about just touching each other trying to keep the guide's job is to do the sighting to keep it nice straight line and get from point a to point b as quickly as they can you see the women are setting off one minute after the men for the initial starters and then the second wave will have that corresponding time that we said slightly different the gap between the first wave of women to the second wave of women compared to the two male waves we'll explain as we go and it's the women who are starting just one minute after and this will be the ptvi ones that will be going off first and they have been set off and amongst them will be one of the favorites to win this race susanna rodriguez the spanish athlete who has recently been moved from a ptvi 2 down to a one as her eyesight has worsened over the last couple of seasons i've got to say i think the women got the better start here certainly this is really really nice from all the athletes the way they are staying in that straight line really got great cohesion with their guides as we now go back to the front of the men's race and look at that working nicely together number 624 that's brad schneider alongside of his guide greg billington so it's the united states with the early lead i'm noticing that it's the guide that is lifting the head every two to three strokes just making sure that they are staying in a straight line wow that is just remarkable all of these athletes have just such cohesion with their guides as you look up the course there they are as straight as an arrow just showing the amount of work and trust that they have in each other a little bit of a gap having opened up and in fact it's that women's race that started a minute back there absolutely idyllic conditions a fast swim that's a wonderful view of the to see the streamlining of the athletes as the second wave the ptvi twos and threes get ready to start three minutes 21 seconds the gap that has been given to the ptvi ones that the advantage will be the second wave of men who are just a minute or two away from starting the chase yeah so they will be allowed to be a little bit more they'll be a little bit more confident and therefore they'll probably be a little bit more have more fluidity technically however they still have a major visual impairment and will still require good communication and a lot of work from their guides as well fascinating dynamic we are underway now for the second group of athletes those were the visual impairment two and those with the visual impairment three and so three minutes 21 down and you can automatically see just how much more aggressive those swimmers are really high arm turnover a lot of kick coming off the back here going out very very fast and and those athletes at the front will be the pv the ptv three athletes and we've got two gaps automatically opening up and really important that the guides or the athletes based on the level of sight look both left and right to see what is happening around them you want to try and get on the feet you want to try and get on the hip of another swimmer and the only way you can do that is by being spatially aware of what is going on around you you don't want to be breathing just to one side only for something to be happening on your left side without trying to conserve energy the 605 of katy kelly the defending champion one of those in this chasing group three minutes 48 seconds the gap between the ptvi ones and this chasing group of the twos and threes as they wait for the starter to bring them into his orders it's tense final few seconds before that adrenaline can be put to good use and now all nerves will automatically disappear well you'll see a much higher arm turnover early on they're really just trying to get clear here they'll use all their 200 meter 400 meter speed in the pool at some point they will look to try and lengthen out now interesting to see that the swimmers closest to the bottom of your picture everyone now starting to come across so those that started on the left hand side are going to have to cover just a little bit more territory we are starting to see what we call that diamond formation one athlete out in front two athletes generally then on that person's feet three behind those two and you start to see almost a pyramid type shape and these are the athletes that they will be looking to try and chase down the athletes that started in the case of the women's three minutes 48 ahead and in the case of the men's three minutes 21 ahead of the athletes with a much higher level of visual impairment a real test and it's been interesting we see the real view there so our leading men have had to make that what would be a right-hand tune for them and then go across and then take another right-hand turn as they're making their way back into my diver marine park through the 750 meter swim and just how good is the american purine of brad schneider and greg billington look fantastic swim they've certainly made the most of the clean water out in front and you're swimming with a guide you haven't got that visual impulse of the other swimmers around you clean water is going to be the best bet here they can find their own strokes swim their own race from the front and stay out of trouble well just to put this in context so brad schneider ptv one so he has no sight whatsoever in the swim now we blacked out goggles to make sure that it is a 100 level playing field and so to be able to swim with so much fluidity and have so much faith and trust in greg billington means they have spent an awful lot of time together in the open water we keep saying this we'll talk about it throughout this race show your body and training what happens on race day down to the smallest details the fact that they're racing at a certain time of the day here in tokyo practice swimming at that time of the day set your race up we know the first 250 meters is going to be fast when you're doing time trials on the pool do the first 250 meter fast then look to lengthen it out then look to be a bit more even knowing that possibly the last hundred meters you're gonna pick the pace back up again so all of these little things come into play we're dealing with very very small percentages so you need to be able to take control of the things you can control susanna rodriguez already out in front of the early stages she's in that front group so the chasers will have 3 48 to make up your questions it's definitely going to be one we need to keep an eye on throughout this race and so the gaps are that you are seeing it's not a case of some athletes being outstanding swimmers and some athletes being you know maybe swimming not their strength it's a simple case that we are seeing the handicap system in terms of the timing coming into play here you can just see where they exit the water [Music] i saw a glimpse of the water temperature there 30 degrees so these athletes gonna be heading out onto the bike having already got very hot and your body struggles to cool down when you're in the water because you don't have the air to take away that that extra heat so when they're swimming at an intensity for 750 meters the warm water is really going to play quite a factor here well the factor will be too when you get on that bike you need to be on your drink bottle you need to be on your hydration system early people think that you don't sweat in a swim but you do end up losing a lot of fluid in a swim particularly in these warmer conditions so our lead man it is still the american brad schneider really nice form swimming is what we call a tilt sport so it's governed by good technique and i always like to use the analogy it's like a golf swing you can play all the golf in the world you want unless you've got good technique and a good swing you're never going to shoot a low score swimming's the same you can do all the swimming you want you'll be swim fit but you won't be swim fast unless you're technically very good and it is tough for the triathletes because they tend to do a lot more cycling and running so the legs can feel heavy at times and when you've got heavy legs you can tend to drop your hips a bit more and that creates drag so really important that they do use their legs that they do have that bring that kick into play and these two athletes are not going to be too far away from exiting this swim so it is brad schneider and greg billington of the united states sticking incredibly close together so schneider can feel exactly where his guide bullington is and now this is the hardest part on the horizontal non-weight-bearing sport and now they're going to have to stand up and get into the vertical heart rate's going to go up another 10 beats here and you're going to feel a little bit shaky and you are going to see the pain face go on well i officially call it the ugly face it's been with the greatest tumor of endearment just because you are grimacing and great job being done by this guide here well without the perception the visual perception as well that orientation making it that much more challenging going from feeling the water to suddenly having no idea of what's around you but it doesn't look to be stopping snyder this looks a well rehearsed set up here [Music] like anything isn't it we know the importance of the transition this is the fourth dimension in the sport fact the fourth or fifth dimension of the sport because we've got the nutrition side of it but you've got the transitions this is the area you need to rehearse you need to practice a lot so it'll be billington who will be the pilot brad schneider the athlete [Music] or you could see billington just having to guide tonight as to where the helmet was waiting but it was all laid out exactly so snyder knew what to pick up first glasses on then the helmet now 621 is the japanese athlete his guide tsubaki kohi so great swim from japan and this will get the crowd here excited and then we've got jose luis garcia serrano and that time gap is serrano comes out of the swim in a time of 11 minutes 53 versus brad schneider 10 minutes 35 so schneider has about a minute 15 lead over yoni oka sotaro of japan and then a further three seconds back to jose luis garcia serrano and we've seen kyle cohn the second of the americans exit the water in a time of 1209 and our time system is also telling us that antoine perrell of france has come out of the water in a time of 12 minutes 23. here some of the athletes needing a little more assistance from their guide others experienced and able to find all of their kit as required and you can see andy potts trying to guide to where his pieces of equipment are waiting on the bike the helmet the glasses blacked out glasses that the athletes in the ptv i1 must wear [Music] quickly too they'll have what they call a mounting line they cannot mount their bikes inside a transition they will pick up time penalties as we see the british pairing now come out of the water here of dave ellis and luke pollard so carrying britain's hopes time of 13 minutes 11. well ellis i think leading the group of those chasers so they've already eaten into that deficit that they had to wait by quite a significant amount but our first women also at susanna rodriguez such a strong swim for the spanish athlete canada still in touch though first place in their women's pti and her well just to re-emphasize the importance of the transition here we saw a lead change in the men's race with jose luis garcia-serrano actually exiting the head of yoni oka sotaro of japan it was the japanese athlete who actually came out of the water in second place so you can make up time you can pull back time in transition [Music] communication is a vital when you're working with a guide let's see verbally you could see there sarah alert just speaking to susanna rodriguez explaining what's going on what we're doing checking she's ready and when it comes to riding a tandem well that is another skill all together just having a look at the ukrainian pairing of anatoly bartholomew and constantine cunn off you're on their journey but you mentioned kyle he's got the great andy potts swimming with them the americans andy potts one of the great triathletes one of the best athletes in the world back in his day and so what an athlete to have alongside of you for kyle cone drawing upon all of his experience as we see more and more of our swimmers exiting the swim and we go back to the front of what let's affectionately call it at the moment the bike race or the race and it is still the united states of brad schneider and greg billington who lead this visual impairment class of this paratriathlon tokyo 2020 and it's not the similar setup to what we see for those athletes without a guide without a pilot deep carbon rimmed wheels and i see the disc brakes are on too which is an innovation a lot of bikes will still have what they call the rim brakes the rubber rim brakes but the disc brakes mean that you don't have to squeeze the brakes as much they do kick in a lot quicker we can see those swimmers that had that deficit at the start still closing it as they come to the latter stages of that 750 meter loop but here we'll start to see some of the men and women alongside as the races establish themselves and those gaps between the two different levels of impairment start to close and again just a reminder too that there is no drafting out here on the course today so you'll see a lot of triathlon in the summer games where men's and women's races will be draft legal they'll ride in bunches which creates a different dynamic here you are out on your own you must keep that 10 meter gap and what we like about this it's the old form of the sport it basically really means that the athlete who's the best across three disciplines is ultimately going to share in the spoils where sometimes in the drafting format well it can come down to really just a pure running race at times if it can be a bit pedestrian on the bike straight out time trial here so really important they communicate they'll be talking to each other saying look we've got three hundred we've got a 180 degree turn that we need to take so hey we're just going to tap on the brakes here just be aware for increases in acceleration deceleration we're going for a very high cadence this duo and that's obviously going to have to be agreed upon beforehand than the training they've done but then when a gear change does happen the guide will have to speak to their athletes and just to give them that warning ahead of time and also to be hearing from the athlete as to what gear you know what they're feeling like where how their legs are doing whether they want to run a higher gear so slightly lower cadence but putting out that harder effort through the legs or going for the high cadence that we're seeing from the duo here also like the way schneider here too what he wants to do is you want to have your pilot being a slightly bigger body as well that creates for better aerodynamics you can just basically almost rest your head on your pilot and so that's a really good example of it seeing the athlete at the back sitting lower therefore that wind going straight over the top and don't underestimate the importance of aerodynamics aerodynamics will kick in at 17 kilometers an hour [Music] really really good you can clearly tell that they have spent a bit of time in the sports science labs doing a lot of aerodynamic testing so they're about to come in and complete the first lap already refers to four laps 20 kilometers in total five kilometers per lap so looking very good brad schneider greg billington total time 19 minutes and five seconds as we go back through the men's course through the men's field you can see the earth face standing out of the saddle and that again requires a lot of coordination and communication between the athlete and the guide all needs to be in sync obviously your feet have to move at the same time that can't be changed on a tandem the chain is fixed and it's connecting both of the pedals and the power going through one drive chain however standing out of the saddle you want to do that together and come up at the same time go back at the same time just to make it that much smoother and to help not wasting any power but also keeping the bike running smoothly pedro jose adrija batista is the guide here for jose luis garcia serrano the spanish athlete and he's a very good bike rider you can tell he's sort of has those knees coming up and almost just coming across the top tube of the bike don't underestimate the technical abilities of bike riders you can often tell an experienced bike rider from an inexperienced bike rider by simply the way they do turn the pedals they're subtle but really really good form from the spanish pairing interesting they've gone with the full disc on the back so they'll probably be pushing a slightly bigger gear here trying to maximize the power out of the aerodynamics of that wheel a deep carbon rim wheel on the front and it's not a bad wheel choice either considering there is no wind on the course sometimes when you get a lot of crosswinds you don't want those deep rim carbon wheels or the full discs because they lack like a sail but challenge coming now from the japanese pairing two who came out of the swim ahead of the spanish pairing so nothing in it between spain and japan but it's still americans leading rodriguez really putting the power down this susanna rodriguez like we mentioned had just been moved down to the pt vi1 so going out in that front group and as a result is going to make the spanish i think incredibly hard to catch coming out of the t1 just eight seconds ahead of canada jessica to amela but i think when we get the next update after lap number one on the bike that that gap could well have opened yeah fascinating battle already now sometimes you'll come out of that swim for whatever reason you just might not feel quite as good but you've got enough time to come right here and often you'll ask your athlete look i might just need to try and pick the pace up a little bit sometimes just getting your heart rate a little higher you can come right sometimes it's a case of saying look i just just i'm really really struggling you just gotta hope that you're going to come right draw upon that experience but they've got to also be talking to each other about the hydration side of it i want to take a drink now i'm going to take one hand off the bars to do that and therefore the pilot then needs to make sure they are just aware of counterbalancing the bike because it is very warm here and you need to be drinking you need to be eating you can hear the shouts coming from the pilots the guides let them know when there's a corner coming when you've got a sharp 180 degree bend obviously then the athletes want to have their outside legs straighten the weight going through the outside leg to help keep the bike balanced and maintaining that speed that momentum that they've built up going into the turn all of this would have been practiced in training the communication will be just to let the athlete know what is approaching really really good discipline here from the canadian chameleo because what we're seeing is that position of the head on the back of her pilot staying aerodynamic keeping that head down now that is not an easy thing to do maintaining that discipline for a 20 kilometer bike ride which will be at least 30 minutes of riding you lift that head up you're gonna sometimes create a little bit of a hand brake another really good example too from the italian peering anna barbaro being led by charlotte bonin 30 seconds back out of the swim on the leaders susana rodriguez in the men's race snyder the usa guided by billington these two have been looking and they're working at the real top end of effort throughout this bike well just looking at the time gap so through the first lap it was 19 minutes oh five for schneider then garcia serrano 20 minutes 27 so around about a minute and a half and then we saw the japanese pairing 20 33 so only six seconds separating second from third kyle kuhn though is the um athlete andy potts there's pilot 20 45 so he's beginning to make a charge as well the first develop ptv three athletes those that do have some sight they started three minutes 21 back they've already closed that gap down to around about two minutes so plenty to look forward to here fascinating contest interesting to see that you what you will notice is that the athlete at the back will have the big chain ring so the athlete on the front if you think of the athletes on the front is setting the tempo and that you've got some sort of advantage you're not they are underpowered on the front with that small chain ring it's the athlete at the back who is dictating the speed dictating the pace of this race so it's not a case of saying well i've got a guy on the front who's a world-class cyclist and he's going to drag me around the course you won't see it on this side but if you look on the other side if you can just see through there you'll see the bigger ring on the right hand side for jose luis garcia serrano so that the just let you know that the job of the pilot is simply that to get the athlete around the course yes they are peddling but they have been dictated to by their athlete cornering there you saw the outside leg just straightened the weight going through the outside of the bike for rodriguez and her guide for that smoothest line and the corners would have been practiced as much as possible some of these athletes will have struggled to actually meet up with their guide due to clothes restrictions over the last couple of years rodriguez a very experienced paratriathlete indeed and she'll know what she's doing whether she's worked with this guide for long or not over the last season or two this is smart here from tamala of canada because she's making sure she's grabbing her drink bottle on the long stretches possibly might have a little bit of a tailwind behind here they'll do an environmental scan if we left okay when are we going to have any breeze behind us when is going to be the best time to grab my drink bottle you certainly don't want to be doing it through a technical part of the course you want to be able to do it when you can feel like you're in a straight line that you're in a rhythm an interesting different set up again not quite as deep carbon rim wheels everyone will be slightly different means you can sometimes come out of the corners just a little bit easier as well not quite as stiff those wheels oh boy look at this race developing amongst our men we've got three teams together now now what are they doing what are they allowing here now that's a bit deceptive but they will have to stay apart it's our understanding of the ruling non-drafting format it looks very close going around that corner not just for the drafting side of things but also just for the if there's any slight wobble from the bike in front tandems are that much harder to maneuver they take that much longer to react it's like driving a lorry as opposed to a car the officials the officials will be smart too they'll realize there'll be certain points on the course where look it is going to come together because everybody's breaking but in a situation like that's a really good example of these athletes maintaining the gap there what and why it's a non-drafting race is a game for safety reasons these athletes are visually impaired you cannot have these long aero bars and these long bikes and big bunches athletes will crash they will come down [Applause] and so if you do sit on the wheel of another rider you can actually get well in a bunch and a main peloton like you'll see and say the tour de france you get anywhere up to a 30 drag coefficient so you just sit there and cruise along and it's at least 20 sitting on the wheel of another rider in front of you and thus they want they want it to be a level playing field they want every athlete to have to exert the same amount of energy or the same amount of effort on the bike cause thus not just for safety reasons but for athletic reasons no drafting well that bunch we saw were battling for second third and fourth position the leaders at the moment still out in front brad snyder and they're staying out of trouble clean road no chases to worry about at the moment still early days just the second lap of the fallout bike course let's just have a look at how they handle this corner yeah nicely done great cohesion and not too much difficulty getting those that cadence back up to speed quickly yeah that's really nice completely much higher occasion so they're not pushing as a big gear and every athlete will be different in terms of and what we mean by cadence is that we're talking about revolutions per minute how many times they're peddling in a minute you'll see some athletes around about 80 revolutions per minute that's what we call pushing a reasonably hard gear optimum cadence somewhere between 90 and 100 95 a lot of athletes these days you'll hear athletes talking about gear ratios the gear they're pushing we'll just have a look here looks like they've got a mid-range cog at the back they're using big chain ring on the front so the number of teeth on the big chain ring on most standard road bikes is about 53 and then they'll have a range of smaller cogs on the back that might start at 11. next one up might be a 12 or 13 14 and so your gear ratios you'll often hear them say 53 14 which means probably a mid-range a big gear but still not the hardest gear perfect uniform getting the angle of that corner you want to try and ride through the apex you come out wide come close to the the barrier at the turn and then come back out wide again so you can keep it a smoother turn as possible even more so when it's a tandem it's a longer bike it's harder to maneuver so you'll see all of the athletes trying to come out wide cut through and come back out wide the other side these bikes take quite a lot of work to slow them down but also to speed them up so maintaining that speed becomes even more important than it would do with a single rider bike now i can tell you we have had a change in the pecking order schneider of the united states through two laps still leads with his pilot greg billington 26 minutes 15. however kyle kuhn the second of the americans with the great andy potts is a pilot 27-52 so we are seeing kyle kunt beginning to make his move on the bike he is however still around about a minute 30 down on his fellow countryman brad schneider dominating the women's race at the moment susanna rodriguez everyone i spoke to said she is the athlete to watch and they are putting in a dominating performance here and her guides are alert the canadians were chasing out of t1 and they still are chasing we'll get an update hopefully on the gap between the leaders and the chasers canada it was the italians anna barbaro sitting in third we'll hopefully get a shot of them in just a moment but it's jessica tomela who comes through another 180 degree bend keeping her head down the whole way through there having absolute utmost confidence in her pilot well here are the italians we just mentioned anna barbaro being led by charlotte bonin on the front the italians the fact that they slightly deeper carbon rim wheel at the back there they look like they might just be pushing that slightly harder higher gear sometimes when you push the harder gear you don't turn it over as quickly so it's trying to find that balance between a nice high cadence and the gear ratio you can see rodriguez just in a slightly more upright position than some of the other athletes but putting out so much power through those pedals she's finding the position that's most efficient for her so it's a balance between being aerodynamic but also being in the optimum position so you can really power down through the pedals rodriguez a strong athlete opting to be slightly less aero but really maximizing her potential for power well also to all come down moment to the fact that what is the best position yes you want to be aerodynamic but you've also got to make sure you're comfortable you've still got to run and i'll always say this it is i still believe triathlon it crossed my sport it's primarily it's still a running race when it's all said and done you can lose time on the bike but you can lose a lot more on the run it's a weight-bearing sport and it is arguably the toughest physically of the three sports swimming toughest technically so you tend to see a lot of age group athletes really gravitate towards the bike it's the one they enjoy the most it's the one they can make the greatest improvements in well we've just seen the men's race that there might have been a problem for the british pairing we haven't seen dave ellis for a little while and it's currently on the stats we're getting saying a dnf so something might have happened on the bike leg for the brits who were starting to make a move up through the field now the other real evolution here we've talked about the deep room carbon wheels and the various gear ratios is also now these days the width of the tyres so historically it used to be 22 mils and you'd want to put as much air pressure in the tyre as you could anywhere up to 140 psi well cycling has changed the game and we're actually seeing riders now riding a much wider tyre 25 26 mils depending on the road surface and a lot less air pressure in and it seems counter-intuitive but the science says 80 psi wider tire faster bike and the frames these days with the disc brakes particularly allow for greater width of the wheels and if you've got the rubber brakes well you might be a little bit more limited in terms of how wide you can go with your tyre widths so so much technology going into the sport these days on the cycling side of it as we still see schneider kuhn and the japanese rider of yonyoka your first three out on the road but serrano of spain only further seven seconds back off that silver medal they've got some work to do if they're to catch schneider who has looked in control from the very start of this race well they are leading from the front aren't they dominating the pace here and just dictating this race we've just had an update that the british duo have abandoned the race due to technical issues during the bike segment well that will be devastating for dave ellis and his guide luke pollard yeah shattering because world champion in 2018 will champion in 2017. well they had bike issues in 2019 hence not managing to defend that title of world champions but they were the ones to beat coming into this race and something has gone drastically wrong on the bike segment now tandem bikes do have different technical issues and there's a lot of power going down through the the drive chain double the power obviously with two athletes and that can cause problems so we won't know exactly what's happened but yeah you have had problems in the past yeah these bikes they want to have a lot of stiffness in what they call the bottom bracket of the bike such as where the pedal arm or the crank connects to the bike really good example there great camera work and that that wants to be nice and stiff you don't want any movement in the bottom of the frame anytime there is movement or flex in the frame you're losing energy one thing too they'll be aware of is what they call a chain line you want to run a straight chain line you do not want to be in your big chain ring on the front and then on your biggest cog at the back because it creates too much of a diagonal on the chain and that is energy you lose so often you'll see to correct that to try and keep the chain as straight as possible you'll see them drop down into the smaller chain ring on the front and then bring bring it the gear at the back into a harder cog and find that crossover in gear ratios so all these little things chain lines gear ratios stiffness of frames carbon wheels air pressure it's sounds a lot but it's all about little incremental increases scrubbing a little bit here a little bit then out there the corner we're gonna power through the transition area just like coming towards the end of lap three i'll get an update on the lead and just what that gap is between spain and canada we've seen the canadian torment stay in touch with the spanish and it will come down to the run if there's no dramatic changes back out on the men's race is this the woman coming through transition the canadian period i think [Music] yes it is indeed [Music] there's the update 43 seconds so they've lost quite a lot of time to the spanish rodriguez so strong on the bike and they do just look slightly more in sync susanna rodriguez and sarah alert the italians still in that third place there we go one minute four off the leaders just 21 seconds behind the canadians it's going to be a wonderful running race isn't it it is going to be a fascinating encounter on that run who's prepared to suffer the most well we must keep an eye as well on those chases we're seeing alice and peace go melissa reed moving up through set off the three-minute 48 behind so we'll expect to see during the bike some of the other riders closing that gap well brad schneider through lap three total time of 33 31 and then kyle cooner's fellow countryman 35.09 so that gap is a minute 40 there or there abouts approximately a minute 40 but kuhn is beginning to just cut into that lead got to be careful though you can ride too hard you're still going to be able to get off and run well might be feeling a little frustration because whether they've been informed of it yet or not they've actually received a 10 second penalty for placing their equipment outside of the equipment box in t1 in the transition so that's probably hat and goggles has to all go in a set box and that's the job of the guide to make sure that their athlete gets their kit in the right place looking it happened to it it happened to one of the brownlee brothers in the men's triathlon in london back in 2012 too johnny brownlee picked up a penalty so reputation doesn't mean anything in the sport you've got rules you've got guidelines they understand what those rules are they're in most races around the country as we see our race leaders come off the bike boy it's been a quick 20 kilometers hasn't it for brad schneider greg billington so now when they get onto the run here they'll be connected either by the wrist or by the hip now the guide must stay behind here they're not allowed to toe the runner at all so you've got to be very very careful a guide here that you're not pulling your runner and i'll be keeping an eye on that as well so there we go that's a great example of what is expected put in your helmet putting your shoes into those boxes so that you don't pick up the penalty now this is how we're going to see it so they'll be connected by the waist just struggling got to slow things down and now schneider and his guide greg billington leading this race [Applause] looking like he certainly is an accomplished run-up gotta stay tall gotta just control the emotions here as i said you've got to race the way you train if you want to go out and run the first kilometer hard well make sure you've done it plenty of times in training you can't train one way and then turn up on race day and expect to run differently but really good job being done here by his guide that's great teamwork isn't it just trying to cool that body core down it is very very warm up around 30 degrees as we see our second team coming through and this will be the second american pairing of kyle kuhn and andy potts [Music] out of the pedals and sinking there opting for a slightly less smooth dismount but still making sure they're both off the bike before that vital red line the dismount line and their feet must be on the floor before that it's only around about a minute down that gap as we now see spain coming jose luis garcia serrano and yoni oka satoru of japan so it is game on for first second third and fourth at the moment we find out now who has done the work who has the running form and great work here from the japanese guide fantastic tsubaki kohei is the guide but we see the big form there of andy potts a great athlete in his own right out gartha route now the japanese pairing nothing in it we talk about searching for the loose of one percent or this could come down to 0.01 when you add up the time and then look at the time differences well it's going to be interesting when has to serve that 10 second penalty it'll be on the run at some point so i'll be informed of that shortly yeah i don't look you you have to have prepared for that often one of the things you can do is when you're in training and they'll do a lot of their swimming in the pool and people go oh swimming's so boring you look at the tiles all day how do you do it well if you've got those long warm-ups say over 800 meter warm-up 400-meter warm-up of freestyle it's a chance to do some to visualization what happens if i do pick up a penalty how do i deal with it what is the plan how is it going to affect my psyche and there's not a right or wrong answer but you should have a plan for it well at the moment talking of plan schneider is executing his plan perfectly being guided along by billington they've now gone into their rhythm they've got through the tricky part of transition navigated the hydration they needed the water for cooling as well that was passed to schneider and now it is just the focus for the 5k you can see the focus there the guide just having to give snider say this is a left-hand turn don't go too wide you've got to really keep an eye of those barriers that just stick out at the bottom there back to the leaders for the women's race as they come towards the end of the bike dominating performance it has not faltered and you'll see the feet coming out so smooth there it's got to be in sync you've got to decide when you're doing the right foot and at the moment the guide will call to rodriguez right left foot look at that that was smooth that was smooth if you were judging that if this was a diving competition you'd give them tens wouldn't you that was really really well done and this is the stuff that you can control we keep talking about you can't always control your physiology you can't necessarily control your height sometimes you can't necessarily control your own natural ability but you can control these things and so sometimes when you talk about talent you've got to expand the definition of talent not just how well you swim not just how well your bike will run it's coachability it's putting your time and energy into the little things really good example being done by that spanish peering oh yeah susanna rodriguez is prepared physically and mentally to come into t2 they will have gone through this like you say in their heads several times but also in practice both out here and also in preparation camps let's see how smooth that dismount is they're opting for the stop get off first well then keeping hold of the saddle puerto riga is a great way just to be guided into their position and it'll be interesting the tactics that they take yeah well that was really really smooth again they are just so well drilled aren't they and even looking at that he's just since both you've got great running for me a guide's got to be a good triathlete in their own right i mean you've got a you know not an easy job out here a lot of pressure you've also got to make sure you turn up and you're feeling good yourself [Applause] let's have a look at the teamwork good cohesion again so those shoes just have elastic laces so they can just pull them on never want brand new pair of shoes you want shoes that you have worn but here come the canadians so it is game on the women's race a little steadier on the dismounts as they try to navigate to their position as quickly as possible through this t2 don't look quite as smooth do they it doesn't quite look as in sync as though it's not been practiced as many times whereas this pair hardly any words needed you'll notice the headband that susana rodriguez is wearing that's they're designed to basically take the heat away from the head so it's increasing the surface area that the athletes have you see a lot of athletes using that iron man iron man kona and some of the other hot conditions it just acts as a cooling device yeah they want anything to try and keep their core strength down canadians though and we've now seen the italians come into transition as well so it is spain canada and italy in this women's race and the italians could could they get out of transition earlier no they can't so tamala on her way now come the italians then we've got the australian men in the background as well i can tell you out on the bike course for the men we have had brad schneider complete a lap of the run in a time of 45-56 and they have a lead now over the japanese athletes it's japan and the men's race that's come through in second we'll go back to the front of the race on the men's side as we see more and more of the women's teams going through transition but here is schneider leading the race so just over two minute lead now fantastic great work being done here by greg billington with brad schneider americans will be enjoying the wonderful support they're getting from the japanese locals out here really enjoying this triathlon first time this particular category for the visually impaired athletes has happened for the men sport of course became a middle sport at the paralympics in rio just five years ago you'll notice these two running stride for stride and when it comes to sprinting events for the visually impaired categories that is essential but these more endurance events and triathlon it's not so important but it does help the athlete to find that rhythm if you are similar size you've got similar stride length and you can work together it just makes the job of the guide that much easier but also the athlete it gives them that little bit more resistance sort of feeling the rhythm of of their guide next to them yeah just talking concentrate a lot on your breathing too and as you say if you start to feel like you're fatiguing think about form think about running form stay tall try and stay relaxed thumb and forefinger together like you're holding the twig great battle though for second third and fourth going on so look at all the teams now and now this starts to get tricky all grabbing the water chance here for some athletes to maybe surge through that there is no established etiquette it is game on it's how you set this race up fascinating battle for second third fourth fifth out on the course we've got serrano of spain kyle kuhn of the united states the gaudu of france that it is the americans who will come through to complete their second lap of four schneider he's an architect by profession [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and his brother mitchell swam for jerry university and was named the 2009 ncaa division 2 male swimmer of the year so clearly athletic ability runs in the family [Applause] well it's here when the athletes are battling or jostling i should say four positions when you have a pair the guide and their athlete and then another two passing it does get a little trickier the guides job really becomes vital to let their athlete know exactly who's where what distance we have how far we need to move out you can just see the americans there right hot on the heels of the french pair yeah so the race we've seen at the moment the athletes in fourth fifth and sixth are kyle kuhn of the united states uh tebow there are two further groups ahead of them outside of schneider we've got yani oka satoru of japan and jose luis garcia serrano so not a lot in it but definitely at the moment it is the american schneider leading the men's race well we've got a clear lead in the men's race and a clear lead in the women's race just a little error from the guide therefore susanna rodriguez not quite clear of which channel they were supposed to take as they complete the first lap of the run yeah they should know that to be honest i mean you can't blame any officials there should know that they'll know that now and that's the great thing on a multi-lapped run course you do like the bike cause get a chance to get a bit of a feel for things get a bit of an understanding of where the turns are and this is that time penalty that has to be taken this is jose luis garcia theranow so they're currently in sixth place they picked up that 10 second giant penalty so they're not in the top three at the moment sometimes a little bit of a break might not be a bad thing either well it's a good opportunity to chat with your with your guide if you need to reassess know where you are you've also got to be careful though that you don't come out and think well i'm going to try and make that 10 seconds up and then sort of put yourself in the hurt box and not be able to recover from it back to the front of the men's those race it is all the americans at the moment brad schneider with his guide greg billington now this is the third lap they are on they came through that second lap and a total time of 50 minutes 50 seconds very good swimmer schneiders he won gold three gold medals in the pool back in 2016 in rio and the 50 freestyle the 100 freestyle in the 400 free and then a further two gold medals at the london paralympics and the 100 free and the 400 free so who was the reason he let out of the swim ouch just rolled the ankle there by the looks of it [Music] well tumela i think has maybe as a result of that just dropped from the second down into third position italian anna barbaro taking advantage of that moving up into second still a long gap though to the leaders rodriguez you just see the heat coming up out of transition here it is absolutely sweltering it's the humidity that's getting the athletes and haze over the city it'll burn off very warm here in recent days i'm saying that the athletes will be aware of the conditions i mean that's a prerequisite of being a lead athlete understand what your conditions are going to be and as we say go and train in that environment it's a dress rehearsal as we see brad schneider with his guide greg billington coming through to complete their third lap look at that stay nice and tall that form hasn't changed really from when he started to what we're seeing now which is a sign that he is feeling good you start to see the shoulders drop and the head begin to move a little bit that's generally a sign of fatigue well here's our first shot of the british athlete alison pease good just in the back of the picture there and they've been working their way steadily up through the field now up to fifth place still a few more laps of running to go for the women's event you know what is going through the head now now the talking you're not imagine the guides are a little bit like caddies and golf it's more about psychology now it's knowing when to say something it's known when not to sometimes yes you want to hear noise but when you start to get fatigued when you start under duress you just want a little bit of quiet and now spain on spain this will be hecta catala la para of spain in second place in the men's race coming past our women's race leaders we haven't seen that much of this duo but they are looking very comfortably aren't they catala just pumping his arms face is relaxed you can see just the movement in his cheeks and just looking very much like a runner in control oh he's a beautiful runner really really good runner katala here and 5709 he came through lap three so just doing the maths here he is still around about two minutes 20 down on schneider and just 10 seconds ahead of this man we've already seen earlier today in the men's pt s4 the japanese athlete yuda hideki win a silver medal very emotional moment for him so can japan make it two out of two in terms of podiums for their athletes on day one of the triathlon program here tokyo 2020 the paralympics [Applause] and it's all getting pretty busy out there on the run course now the athletes as well as their guides men's and the women's all in jostling for the best line the best position concentrating on their race the guys concentrating on keeping their athletes in the most direct line possible making sure they're hydrated making sure they're kept cool well you're right and it's so much about now you know you are tired you're suffering a little bit you start to lose your concentration you're irritable almost become a little bit irrational at times so really good this is just these two together have just been simply superb they're understanding remarkable right through that swim i mean schneider you would not know that he had that he swam that entire swim with zero vision such was the line that he took such was how in sync he was with his guide he wasn't at any point swimming over the top of his guide his stroke was never affected at any point that in itself is a remarkable skill set [Applause] and he's not too far away from coming down and winning himself a gold medal he won five gold and two silver medals competing in swimming at the paralympics back in 212 216. one of his hobbies is collecting flags [Applause] you can notice that something looks like a necklace we've seen a few of the athletes wearing it's basically another cooling device and these athletes will be using anything they can to try and maintain that core temperature stop it from soaring too high so they can maintain the pace there's furious pace that they're holding for the 5k clothing very functional these days too in terms of yes providing that tightness and that i guess skin suit but also allowing the athlete to be able to breathe and pushing a lot of fluid to a the surface technology these days now a real problem here for the americans they're not going to panic too much but france just have to also be aware of what's going on behind them so ladies and gentlemen settle back and enjoy all of this because it's about to be a very very special moment for brad schneider the 37 year old who's was born in reno nevada these days results he lives in baltimore he was six at the world championships in lausanne back in 2019 well he's about to come down onto the green carpet in the year 2021 and be crowned paralympic champion and is simply and he's immense ptv stunning performance an absolute demolition america with brad snyder your gold medalist your paralympic champion is brad schneider of the united states [Applause] [Music] that is a really special moment for both of them and congratulations to his guide as well who was paramount in the success today greg billington such communication look at the friendship tell you what you get a bit teary-eyed here yourself watching it and now coming down to pick up a silver medal it'll be the spanish pairing of hector gatila lapada and gustavo rodriguez iglesias [Music] 33 years of age what a performance for katala they have to keep it going because here comes the japanese pairing spain silver medal [Music] and then of japan a second middle for them here in the triathlon program bronze medal goes to the japanese athlete subaki kohei his guide celebrates shares in the moment such a motion that is one of the great races for second and third [Music] and the women's leader just going around one more time this is susan rodriguez heading out for the last lap on the bike i'm sorry and now crossing the line and fourth it'll be the french pairing and cyril this the second of the americans crosses in fifth place [Music] you can see how hard it is it's not just the athletes the guides suffering but joining the celebrations equally [Music] just showing so much appreciation for his guide today now we haven't seen our women's but all the focus will be on brad schneider the new paralympic champion that is phenomenal from going from a swim up to taking up triathlon and learning to become that got a runner there's not an easy jose luis garcia serrano with his guide pedro jose batista unfortunately so once again let's give it up for brad snyder taking the paralympic gold medal in the ptvi one class today hector having the fastest run split looks the goods as a runner japan another minute i'll tell you what great rivalry developing three years from now in paris [Music] we'll have those podium presentations the middle ceremonies but we've still got a really really interesting women's race underway out there on the course well the women's race leader susana rodriguez has tired a little on the run not looking quite as strong as the beginning but having said that she is lapping the defending champion from australia katie kelly katie kelly just not able to maintain that form she had five years it's been since the debut for this event at the paralympic games and in that time susana rodriguez spanish athlete has been able to work incredibly hard across all three disciplines the bike she was just at one with her guide he saw all the technical aspects absolutely dialed in and now it's the sheer fitness strength determination in the run you can see kelly and her guide using a slightly different tethering system that actually attached to their trisuits and then rodriguez opting for the hand attachment and some of the other athletes going around the waist so completely up to the atheist what works best for them and works with their guide [Applause] fascinating racing just getting the time there too through that through that lap of the run lap three 101 point so one hour one minute 31 seconds for rodriguez gabardo of italy in second place has just come through in a time of one hour four minutes and 35 so it's a comfortable lead for rodriguez with a lap to go really just needs to maintain her form here can't really see things changing but still waiting for our third place in fact we have seen a change in third place just according to the timing here so we've got kuzele of france has gone past to mala of canada so lee changed for third place but it's all about this woman at the front of this women's race [Applause] just looking in control in the same stride that's her guide so come down that little ramp chance to get some more hydration just one lap to go but you're still using that water to keep cool as much as you are to hydrate okay they come through [Music] susanna rodriguez keeping the concentration face on having a quick chat to her guide all the celebrations already beginning and susanna rodriguez is now striding down that blue carpet as she makes her way towards history what a dominant performance for susanna rodriguez as she crosses the line to become the gold medalist the paralympic champion and celebrates with sarah the two of them have worked so hard together but it was susanna rodriguez who led throughout this competition just looked unbeatable and opened up that lead on the bike they were so strong together you could see they have worked so hard together this pair and then the run well they just can't continue to increase that gap what a well-deserved gold medal an impressive performance for susanna rodriguez the new paralympic champion [Applause] yeah great form looked just fantastic all day strong on the bike great run [Music] to see the middle's been spread across so many countries as well sheer exhaustion mixed with elation italian battle the battle is still on for the silver and the bronze and it's anna barbaro who's currently sitting in that silver medal position to come to the latter stages of this 5k can she keep it together can she hold off a late charge from anuk the french woman who's been moving up through the field steadily alison pisgate of great britain has also been working her way up through the field they sit in third and fourth respectively but it's barbaro who has been in the silver medal position for much of this race well her guide will be telling her look we're going to take a left-hand turn we're going to have a little bit of a downhill not long to go now just work it down break it down in your head this is where the psychology comes in great crowds and she'll sense that she doesn't have that far to go [Applause] well they were being chased by jessica chirmalay the canadian who had a strong bike but the canadian just dropping off over the last couple of laps on the run i'm really leaving it open for italy now well barbaro she's got a great story her father took it to a swimming pool shortly after losing her sight and she said i began practicing it only like a hobby and as a way of taking my life back then step by step after some swimming competitions and once i overcame my limits a passion for triathlon was born because it gives me the sense of freedom by being in touch with nature swimming certainly does give you freedom triathlon gives you the best of all three disciplines allison p's good now working with her guide nikki bartlett the long stride of peasgood working their way up through the field and they have just moved into fourth but are they going to run out of kilometers to make it onto the podium but the silver medal is surely wrapped up here for anna barbaro the final few corners onto the blue carpet [Music] consistent performance here [Music] for the italian her guide celine brazier picking up the italian flag ready for these celebrations she guides anna barbaro towards that silver medal you can see the coach in the background already celebrating barbaro herself arms in the air anna barbaro the paralympic silver medalist hugging into light her guide but here the bronze medal race is on anu kozile has had an incredibly strong finish to this event but it's going to be a sprint finish as allison pease good guided by nikki barlett have the final sprint can they close the gap on the french duo anna curzolay of france giving it absolutely everything peace good trying to close her down those final stages but it's a new cousin who holds off in what was an incredible sprint finish hanukkah kurzalia france wins the bronze alison pisgood just missing out finishing in four oh that was an absolutely nail-biting finish for the final podium position great britain just missing out but france rejoicing in that bronze [Music] well that is just wonderful look for anna barbaro of italy coming into this she picks up a silver medal today six at the world championships 2018 and rotterdam so you talk about a breakthrough performance you've got to feel a little bit for our next competitor to mala of canada she took a wee tumble just didn't quite have the running legs today come down and finish in fifth place as the australians also begin to make their move [Music] incredibly strong finishes coming from these women to malay finding a kick at the end to hold off at late charge from katy kelly of australia [Applause] katy kelly finishing sixth not able to replicate the gold she cannot believe it can she she cannot believe it kuzele of france that is just great great for the sport isn't it what it means to these athletes simply remarkable and coming into this well she'd been fifth at the world championships in 2019 what a moment to get yourself on the podium the biggest event in the sport not only will be forever a paralympian but forever a bronze medalist [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] melissa reed bronze medalist in rio coming home now in seventh place guided by hazel mcleod mcleod had guided alison p's good at the previous paralympic games swapping to work with melissa reid katie kelly not able to back up that performance [Music] erin baker looking strong as she comes to the finish hands in the air but look at that posture and the run very collected [Music] [Applause] she celebrates alongside jillian elliott who guided her throughout the sprint triathlon i sense it's going to be a very emotional middle presentation for so many of these teams what a great moment for italy what a year they've had in sports as the mercury begins to increase here and day four of tokyo 2020 paralympic games odaiba marine park is the venue sport of triathlon which made its debut back in 2016. a wonderful new chapter has been written new names each themselves in the history box as we see rpc coming down making the final few meters of the blue carpet [Music] [Applause] the bronic coming home inside the top ten and ninth place finish for her and her guide elena zebova exhausting in these conditions amy dixon has had an incredible journey just to get here it's been a very tough 12 months for the american paralympian and she said just to get to the start line has been an incredible achievement she works her way around the run with kirsten sass or the ukrainian vita alexioc in the final stages of the 5k her goal was to compete here in 2020 while she's achieved that goal and she's now finished so 26 years of age ukrainian she began the sport at the age of 21 so still relatively young big future header here three more years to continue building on that momentum the volunteers they're ready to hand out that cold water and those cold towels anything to help get that core body temperature back down and help them with the recovery process oh absolutely idyllic conditions it's such a beautiful city tokyo so progressive as we now look at our japanese athlete mario atsuko who is 47 years of age and her husband tomahiko mario was part of the japanese para ice hockey team that won silver at the 2010 para paralympic winter games in vancouver she's competed in marathons before a coach encouraged you to take up paratriathlon well no doubt she will have been encouraged to carry on in the sport with a home games maybe the extended year making it a little tougher i need to keep that training up is great today is [Music] foreign [Music] well wonderful images coming off the venue here on day four of tokyo 2020 odaiba marine park for just the second time triathlon at the paralympics as we look at the japanese competitor coming down to finish this race plenty of support mario of japan taking these final few steps the final few meters before elation can replace that feeling of pain muscle screaming at the end of a grueling event at zuko comes home in 11th place and now the emotions can start to pour and now our final athlete coming down onto victory lane onto the blue carpet downtown broadway oh what a performance for amy dixon she had five months of chemotherapy leading into this gained 40 pounds of fluid which she's been struggling to manage with capillary leakage she has to have daily physio to try and keep her body from just swelling up too much and she's really just been so open about her battle to get here and to be on the start line is one thing but to complete this event and it's just really it's tough too isn't it with the running such an important part that you're sort of putting weight on that you can't control and that makes this performance even more remarkable and her openness about it it's great it just removes some of those barriers to other athletes sort of talking about their struggles as well so brilliant performance well she's talked openly about how much of a teamwork it has been and she will be doing that not just for herself not just for her family but for the whole team that have got her to that finish line incredible moments yeah three more years too to sort of you know again hopefully be able to get on top of some of those medical issues and then someone should be allowed there you go brilliant more fun than someone should be able to have that's pretty fun amazing [Music] my best friend [Music] wants to win that spot prize and go back and do it again okay so look we will bring you middle presentations shortly it's been a remarkable day though on day one of the triathlon program on day four of tokyo 2020 the paralympics it's been a really good day for france picking up the gold medal in the men's pts for the united states on the women's side and the pts2 as we just confirmed those results for you for the ptv one and it'll be the united states spain and japan that will receive the medals you'll see the slight difference in numbers there v vi1 vi2 it was a staggered start based on this of the level of visual impairment so it was a level playing field and there are those results on the women's side spain italy and france wonderful performance from rodriguez really just dominated from start to finish time of 107 0.15 great to see so much depth too and so many countries represented hopefully the legacy for a lot of these athletes is inspiring that next generation and those athletes that might have finished outside of the middle as well maybe in 10 years time when they see one of their fellow countrymen or fellow country women picking up a medal it might have been their performance today that inspired that athlete as we go back and look at some of the highlights [Music] [Music] [Music] wonderful images been a really historic day for the sport of triathlon it's an old cliche but very much paratriathlon triathlon itself the winner along with a number of different nations and we are not too far away from bringing you those medal ceremonies a number of different national anthems will ring out around the venue here diver bait downtown tokyo um [Music] the streets are empty that's where we run everyday [Music] we can do anything we could be [Music] [Music] me [Music] anybody's [Music] [Music] i know you hear me [Music] could be [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] way [Music] but hello wish you the best [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] ladies and gentlemen the victory ceremony for the triathlon women's ptsd ptsd [Music] it's now time to please welcome the medalists bring on steam medalist for the women's para triathlon event the pts 2. and it has thoroughly been dominated by the united states of america gold and the silver will go to the usa they didn't quite manage to replicate the one two and three the full podium clean sweep they had five years ago in rio still an impressive performance for the united states italy on the podium in this event for the first time italian veronica yoko herbani having an incredible andrew parsons president of the international paralympic committee [Music] andrew parsons waving to the crowd and the supporters the ipc president international paralympic committee [Music] you can see the giveaway sign there the asics logo yeshito the ethics president will be [Music] [Music] incredible performance by veronica yoko plebani [Music] the italian athlete taking the bronze and what a lovely moment there by alicia seeley the gold medalist just stepping forward to present the medal to her fellow competitor [Music] we've seen some wonderful moments throughout these paralympic games [Applause] some incredible friendships demonstrated in the sport of power triathlon what a performance fourth at the world championships now bronze [Music] [Applause] from the usa and now veronica pabani taking a leaf out of the book set by [Music] alicia seeley she presents the medals the silver medal to haley dance a second silver medal she won the silver five years ago and she's managed to replicate that performance and what a gutsy performance it was she led for so much of the race just couldn't quite hold off the strong run and by have compatriots representing the united states this woman here the new paralympic champion alisa silly alicia from the usa the gold medalist [Applause] and the paralympic champion [Applause] and her teammate hailey dance will do the honors presenting the gold medal to her teammate alicia seeley the defending paralympic champion this event only the second time at the paralympic games and alicia seeley has won both of those titles [Music] ladies and gentlemen the national anthem of the united states of america america cooked [Music] so [Music] ladies and gentlemen the paralympic medalists [Applause] tears and smiles all of the full spectrum of emotions on the podium here and throughout the women's ptsd paratriathlon alyssia celi welcoming hayley dance on her right and veronica plebani i left in for a group medal hug [Music] a day for the united states of america the gold and the silver wonderful performance for italy [Music] making it onto the podium [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] when i was six years old i broke my leg and tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain [Music] to go home [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] i was younger then me my friends [Music] oh [Music] me is oh [Music] now the middle ceremony for the men's pt s4 a wonderful race and a really special moment coming up for the nation of france japan and spain [Music] when we did not know the answers [Music] ladies and gentlemen the victory ceremony for the triathlon men's pts4 you know okay [Music] please welcome the medalistic [Applause] [Music] [Music] of the international paralympic committee [Music] and ceo of the essex [Music] bronze medalist representing spain spain alejandro sanchez wonderful moment for alejandro sanchez palomero a bronze medal to go with the three silver medals he's won at world championships back in 2015 2016 and also on the gold coast in 2018 a very very impressive cv 34 years of age [Music] silver medalist representing japan hide [Applause] very emotional when he crossed the line breakthrough performance for him he had three fourth places at world championships 217 2018 2019 what a time though to get that break through a silver medal today for the 34 year old [Music] [Music] couldn't control his emotion when he crossed the line gold medalist and paralympic champion representing france champion france alexis hong king [Music] alexis honky guam three-time world champion and now he adds paralympic gold to his resume the most dominant athlete in his class lead from start to finish what a moment for the frenchman and now the national anthem of his country will ring out around odaiba marine park ladies and gentlemen the national anthem of france this [Music] alexey honky [Applause] your three medalists in the men's pts4 triathlon [Applause] [Music] paralympic games tokyo 2020 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] wonderful camaraderie early this morning it was anguish across their face now it's one of elation one of relief life-changing moments all three wonderful ambassadors for the sport of triathlon and for their countries [Applause] [Music] [Music] so i never want to shake oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] hold me close we're falling to the [Music] i lost my head [Music] is [Music] so we're losing time [Music] so [Music] superstars everybody um [Music] oh [Music] [Music] i'm about to have the victory ceremony for the women's pt power vi triathlon in this wonderful setting of the day but bay marina less than an hour ago athletes were battling it out lovely flat water very little wind perfect conditions for a triathlon so ladies and gentlemen the victory ceremony for the triathlon women's ptvi [Music] foreign [Music] as expected it was an incredibly exciting race as the athletes lined up with their guides please now joining them the three medalists make their way towards the podium having probably only just recovered from what was a grueling fast-paced race an exciting one for us to watch no doubt a nerve-wracking event to be competing in [Applause] celebrations for the teams of france italy and spain a full european podium in this women's event i think we might see some emotions coming from the french team if the finish line was anything to go by the medals will be presented by me president of the world triathlon [Music] masaki a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] was just inconsolable with joy as she crossed that finish line you didn't need to understand french [Music] in order to know the emotions and just what that performance meant and our nuke because the lay presents the bronze medal to celine bouzere her guide it shows how much the importance of the relationship between athlete and guide plays such a role but i came in ranked eleventh in the world i know cursed lay the best performance she'd had was the fourth place at the european championships two years ago only started the sport back in 2015 and now she finds herself standing on a paralympic podium [Applause] what a very special moment for france for celine silver medalist representing italy italian [Music] anna barbaro arms held high joined by her guide charlotte bonion the third paralympic games appearance for anna barbaro she won two bronze medals at the european championships [Music] she's gone one step higher on the podium that's the biggest competition of her career so win this silver ptvi at the paralympic games here in tokyo [Music] [Applause] gold medalist and paralympic champion representing spain spain suzanna rodriguez [Music] if you wanted to see a gold medal performance you needed to watch susanna rodriguez from the start of this race through to the finish the new paralympic champion absolutely dominated she won the world triathlon paris series in yokohama in 2019 and has been unbeaten since then and you could see why she won this event by almost four minutes supported very much by her guide sarah alert [Music] an impressive athlete throughout all three disciplines she competed at the world championships in athletics for the 1500 meters which will describe and explain the reason for that strong running form we saw right the way through to the end what a performance by susana rodriguez the new paralympic champion ladies and gentlemen the national anthem of spain spain [Music] ladies and gentlemen the paralympic medalists [Applause] that was the power on the bike on those tandem bikes the reliance the athletes being guided by these strong partners that's why the guys are awarded a medal as well they play a big part in the athletes performance it's been a tough couple of years some of the ethics not able to work closely with their guides that they'd be used to it all came together on the day when it counted for susana rodriguez the newly crowned paralympic champion [Music] [Music] special moments and great celebrations will be held in the teams of spain italy and france [Music] second medal of the day for italy [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] when the world [Music] there are people dying and it's time to the greatest gift [Music] watches [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so metal ceremony up next for the men's ptv one those athletes with a visual impairment [Music] [Music] we are ladies and gentlemen the victory ceremony for the triathlon men's ptv i know [Music] please welcome the medalists [Applause] [Music] [Music] the medals will be presented by dr deborah alexander governing board member of the international paralympic committee accompanied by mr kazuya kiyohara chairman of minato city council minato kugikaigicho [Music] bronze medlis representing japan dolmen [Music] [Applause] wonderful moment for this man out of japan a bronze medal and a very very good performance his guide tsubaki kohei alongside of him what a moment for the host nation [Music] [Applause] of japan [Music] 35 years of age [Music] [Music] silver medalist representing spain in malaysia spain hector [Applause] [Music] [Applause] rodriguez iglesias 33 years of age the defending world champion the totally won in 2019 [Music] silver middle now added to his very impressive resume he was good he was very good [Applause] [Applause] gold medalist and paralympic champion representing the united states of america brad schneider fred schneider paralympic champion his guide greg billington well he had won five para olympic medals gold medals in the past in the sport of swimming in 2012 and 2016. he stepped up to the three discipline event that is triathlon he dominated from start to finish the complete performance what an athlete what a moment for brad schneider the united states of america [Music] 37 years of age and now the star spangled banner will ring out around the odaiba marine park ladies and gentlemen the national anthem of the united states [Music] so [Music] [Applause] you're olympic medalist brad schneider hector lapara ladies and gentlemen of japan their guides greg billington gustavo rodriguez iglesias and tsubaki kohi [Music] [Applause] [Music] us [Applause] [Music] plenty of emotion for all of our recipients five years in the waiting hoping an event that is so much greater than the sum of its parts the pinnacle of the sport [Music] these athletes their guides a credit to their country and credit to the sport of triathlon [Applause] [Music] been simply a remarkable day the odaiba marine park means ptv want those athletes with a visual impairment making its debut a new chapter written in the long illustrious history of the sport of triathlon plenty more action 24 hours from now day two of the triathlon program [Music] and that concludes the first day of trial that does bring to a close day one of the triathlon program on day four and your support please take care of tokyo 2020 the paralympics and remember our revenue staff has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure to require any assistance hope you have enjoyed the coverage please join us here tomorrow at 6 30 a.m for the second and last day of the tokyo 2020 paratriathlon competitions have a great day for all time [Applause] so [Music] you