County Antrim ace Oliver Gunning has hailed the continued rise of paratriathlon as he sets his sights on the Paris Paralympic Games.
Paratriathlete Gunning enjoyed a stellar 2022, which saw him compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and achieve his career-best result with a silver medal at a European Cup event in Bari.
He was also one of countless competitors at the landmark World Para Series event in Swansea this August - the first standalone World Series event for paratriathlon.
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And after a significant year for both him personally and for the sport, Gunning believes the state of paratriathlon has never been better.
“The World Para Triathlon Series in Swansea which was one of the first races which was paratriathlon only,” said Gunning, who benefits from financial support from Boost Drinks – a company born over 20 years ago with a vision of energising everybody in every way and is committed to supporting its local communities, whether this be fuelling them with its range of Sports, Energy, Iced Coffee, and Protein Drinks, or by getting more involved to help them achieve their goal.
“There’s more people coming into the sport and the sport as a whole is getting more and more competitive, which is great to see.
“There’s also been more acknowledgement of the sport this year, which has been a massive blessing especially funding wise.
“The actual racing has been great. There’s been a lot more paratriathlons you can compete in as a whole, a lot more events this year than in previous years. It’s good to see.
“Swansea was a massive step forward for paratriathlon. It gets out there publicly that it is a massive sport, which is great.”
With Gunning in the middle of his winter training, he has not decided what specific races and events he will be targeting in 2023 just yet.
However, the Paralympic Games in Paris the following year remain the looming goal for him, as he looks to transition from a fan of the showpiece event to a competitor.
The Northern Irish star, one of over 1,000 athletes in the early stages of their career supported by SportsAid each year, added: “It’s a big target coming. The qualification only starts on 30th June [2023] for it, so it’s going to be all systems go from then racing wise - anything can happen.
“The ultimate goal is to get to the Paralympics. Getting there would be incredible and hopefully I’ll be able to do the best I can. Whether that’s in Paris or in LA, I guess we’ll find out.
“It only started in Rio [2016] for paratriathlon as it’s a relatively new sport, but I’ve watched Paralympic sport ever since I was a child. I’ve grown up watching, so to one day go from watching as a child to being there on that massive stage would be incredible.”
Boost Drinks provides young athletes with financial support, recognition, and personal development opportunities through its partnership with SportsAid. Each athlete receives a £1,000 award which contributes towards costs such as travel, accommodation, and equipment – for more information visit www.boostdrinks.com
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