Monday morning on the banks of the River Seine saw Frenchman Jules Ribstein take the crowd volume up to 11 as he delivered a supreme golden performance to become the men’s Paris 2024 Paralympic Triathlon Champion in the PTS2 category.
Out of the water right with USA’s Mark Barr and Wim de Paepe of Belgium, there was nobody who could get close to him on the bike, even the flying Dutchman Maurits Morsink too far back out of the water to make a meaningful dent on his lead.
With Ribstein too far to be caught, it was another American, Mohamed Lahna, out of transition two on a mission to catch de Paepe, reeling him in along with compatriot Mark Barr. Bronze medallist at Rio 2016, Lahna was able to go one better this time around and secured the silver, crossing the line just 15 seconds ahead of Barr.
“For the last month and weeks I felt a lot of pressure, and especially the last days in the Village,” said Ribstein. “The French team, we have a lot of emotion to try and do it here in France and win on home soil. It was big, big pressure. But I did the job. It’s all I wanted. Now it’s just relax and champagne and beer.”
“The crowd was my advantage, yeah. I had all my family and friends. It pushed me. I debuted in triathlon at 15 years old and I didn’t think ever one day I would be here in Paris, doing the Paralympics.”
Ribstein wasted no time in setting about his task and secure what he hoped would be the first French gold of the day. Tucking in behind Barr, the pair put together the two fastest swims of the day, the American exiting with 15 seconds’ advantage by the end of the taxing return leg straight into the powerful Seine current.
Wim de Paepe emerged just off Ribstein, Lionel Morales of Spain 40 seconds back, Lahna 85 seconds back as they hit the first transition and out onto the 20km bike.
As Lahna set about his bike with no delay, Mark Barr was unable to match the pace and began to drop back from the tempo set by Ribstein and de Paepe ahead, while Morsink tried to reel in those up ahead.
The Belgian came out of T2 narrowly ahead, but Lahna was at full tilt to set up the battle for silver and bronze with gold looking out of the equation.
In fact, both the Americans were able to move ahead early on the run while, ahead, an assured 19m50s run saw the Paralympic title safely into Ribstein’s hands. An explosive finish line roar at his achievement, Ribstein was a man complete, while Lahna and Barr embraced in completing the podium. Morsink ran his way to fourth, de Paepe taking fifth.
QUOTES
Mohamed Lahna (silver)
“It took eight years to go from third to second; quite the progress. I was a little bit nervous with the delay that we had, but I’m very happy to show the progress and showcase my training for the past eight years. Swimming is not my strength, so I was a bit worried about that, especially coming back against the current. The top swimmers were really ahead of me, so I was chasing on the bike. I had a minute-and-a-half gap to make up and it was not as easy as I expected. I am very happy I finished second. It’s an amazing course, an amazing day. Nothing to complain about.”
Mark Barr
“I’ve been chasing the podium for 20 years, since 2004. Three fourth places, which is the worst place you can get in a race, so to finish on the podium finally is very rewarding. Man, a lot of training, a lot of heartache. I hate having to answer that I’ve never gotten a medal before. Now I can check that box, as a medallist, which is a great feeling to have. I had on my phone, a picture of the podiums that I’ve missed. It was good motivation to push through the dark days of training and keep motivation high.”