Charles Paquet obtained the best result of his career in the Triathlon World Championship Series, a fifth place, Saturday in Yokohama, Japan. Barring any incidents, this result will allow him to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.
On the Olympic distance course (1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 km of running), the Port-Cartier athlete was in the group of running leaders before seeing the American Morgan Pearson (1 h 42 min 5 s) started alone in the lead and crossed the finish line with a lead of 7 seconds over the Australian, Matthew Hauser. Another Australian, Luke Willian, completed the podium which eluded the Quebecer by only 10 seconds.
Paquet thus improves on his seventh place obtained at the Montreal stage last June.
“I’m super happy with my performance and it feels good to start the season like this, especially in an Olympic year. I am happy with the progress I have made and am super motivated for the future,” Paquet briefly commented in writing to Sportcom.
If the athlete did not want to take the plunge regarding her first Olympic participation, World Triathlon (international triathlon federation), she did so in her race summary, writing that it was now done .
Paquet’s selection will be official when the Canadian Olympic Committee makes the announcement at the conclusion of the qualification process, following the World Championship Series race in Cagliari, Italy, on May 25.
Paquet’s fifth place (3,316 points) allowed him to jump 17 places and positions him in 32e place in the international Olympic qualification rankings. His closest Canadian rival, Martin Sobey, finished 20e Saturday and is 53e (2510) in the qualification ranking. Tyler Mislawchuk is the best Canadian at 20e rank (4116).
Emy Legault 27e
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Emy Legault
Among women, Emy Legault took 27e rank of the event which was won by the French Léonie Periault ahead of the American Taylor Knibb and the French Emma Lombardi. The other Canadian entered, Dominika Jamnicky, placed 31e14 seconds behind the Quebecer.
“The swimming was a bit complicated. I didn’t swim that well and I think I can swim a lot better than that. It put me in a difficult position, but we caught up (the race lead) well on the bike,” said the triathlete from Île Perrot who was participating in her second race of the season after being a silver medalist. at the Americas Cup in La Guaira, Venezuela, in February.
“In running, I had to be patient with the heat and it took me about 5 kilometers before I found my legs again. It was in the second half that I started to come back to the girls, so I was happy. Overall, it’s a good race, not great, but not bad either and it’s a good start to the season,” concluded the 28-year-old.
Legault remains the country’s first representative in the race for the only Olympic ticket for Canadians. She is 41e (3087). Ontarian Dominika Jamnicky (2175) is the second Canadian at 62e rank.