Tokyo 2020: Para triathlon qualification criteria

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has announced that its Executive Board and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have approved the Paralympic Rankings and the Qualification Criteria for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The updated Para triathlon qualification criteria can be found on Paralympic.org.

Following the announcement of the eight Tokyo 2020 Para triathlon medal events in August, the ITU and IPC have agreed that Para triathletes from classes that do not have their medal event on the programme, may obtain qualification slots for their NPC by competing in a higher class. This is known as classing-up.

“This announcement is very important for our sport and all our Para triathletes, as we are giving all of them the chance to vie for Paralympic glory”, said ITU President and IOC member, Marisol Casado. “Having eight medal events at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics meant that not all classes were catered for at the Games. By allowing classing-up, athletes without their event in the programme now have the opportunity to go the extra mile and try to be there, even if competing against athletes with different impairments. This is an optimal solution given the existing limitations, and ITU will continue to work to have more presence in future editions of the Paralympics”, explained Casado.

Men’s sport classes PTS2 and PTS3 will score ranking points for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Qualification Rankings of the Men’s PTS4 Medal Event, making them potentially eligible to compete in that event.

Women’s sport classes PTS3 and PTS4 will score ranking points for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Qualification Rankings of the Women’s PTS5 Medal Event, making them potentially eligible to compete in that event.

The Paralympic qualification period will comprise twelve months, from 29 June 2019 through to 29 June 2020, and athletes will account for their best three results during this period.

The Qualification events will be the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships in 2019 in Lausanne; the ITU World Paratriathlon Series Events within the period; one ITU Paratriathlon Continental Championships per region (if there are two during qualification term, the first one will not count); and the ITU Paratriathlon World Cups.

The ITU also announced more events that will be included in the 2019 calendar of Paratriathlon, with Milano (Italy) hosting for the first time a World Paratriathlon Series event in April 27, 2019, and Magog (Canada) welcoming once more a Paratriathlon World Cup in July 13/14, 2019. Further additions to the Paratriathlon calendar are expected in the near future.