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Friday afternoon saw the inspirational paratriathletes take to the Olympic course at the 2011 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships. Following a British sweep in the men’s under23 race earlier in the day, Great Britain also enjoyed success in the paratriathlon taking the first two spots in four of the classifications.

A total of 72 athletes representing 18 National Federations competed under glorious blue skies in Beijing with six categories in both the men’s and women’s competitions crowning the medallists of the day.

Jane Egan (GBR) and Elizabeth McTernan (GBR) claimed gold and silver respectively in the female TRI-1, with Faye McClelland (GBR) and Clare Cunningham (GBR) taking the top two spots in the TRI-4 and Edith Dasse (FRA) in third.

TRI-6 ended with a similar result as Great Britain’s Charlotte Ellis and Sara Butler took gold and silver with Patricia Walsh (USA) snatching bronze. In the men’s TRI-3 Britain triumphed yet again in Steven Judge and James Smith who secured gold and silver with French paratriathlete Geoffrey Wersy taking bronze.

North America dominated the podium in the women’s TRI-2 and TRI-3 as the U.S. took top three spots with Melissa Stockwell, Sarah Reinertsen, Scout Bassett in the TRI-3 and Jennifer Hopkins (CAN) took gold, Beth Price (USA) silver and Kim Wedgerfield (CAN) bronze in TRI-2.

Danielle McLaughlin (USA) won the female TRI-5 category in a time of 01:35:08.

France ran away with gold in both the men’s TRI-4 and TRI-5 with both Yannick Bourseaux and Benjamin Landier winning their respective categories by over three minutes. The silver and bronze medallists in TRI-4 were Angelo Borim (BRA) and Peter Boronkay (HUN) with JP Theberge (USA) and Martin Falch (AUT) second and third in TRI-5.

The men’s TRI-1 placed Bill Chaffey (AUS) on the top of the podium followed by Andre Kajlich of the U.S. and Brazil’s Fernando Aranha with bronze. South Africa claimed gold in the men’s TRI-2 in the form of Oswald Kydd with Mohamed Lahna taking silver and David Peiffer (FRA) the bronze.

The men’s TRI-6 saw Rodrigo Feola (BRA) produce a winning time of 01:07:45 with Haseeb Ahmad (GBR) in the silver medal position.

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Race action continues on Saturday 10 September with the junior women, elite men and women’s under23. Catch all the racing on triathlon.org.