NEWS

Keeping her dream alive, an athlete feature with PTWC Paratriathlon Lauren Parker

By Chelsea White | 28 Sep, 2018
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With the dream of one day winning the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Aussie Lauren Parker was badly injured in a bike crash that left her paralyzed from the waist down. However, despite her circumstances and the newly claimed life that introduced her to a world in a wheelchair, Parker has reentered triathlon as an elite Paratriathlete who earned the bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Paratriathlon World Championships in Gold Coast.

In early April of 2017, Australian triathlete Lauren Parker felt at the peak of her career. After finishing second in the 2015 Ironman World Championships in Kona, the 28-year-old triathlete was training for 35 hours a week with a goal on her mind: a podium at the Ironman Australia Triathlon in Port Macquarie. On an early morning ride a week before the race, she crashed into a guardrail while travelling about 45km/h, suffering broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken scapula, broken back and a broken pelvis, all causing her to lose any feeling from the waist down.

Doctors gave her only a one percent chance of walking again, which meant that Parker had to adapt to her new circumstances of life in a wheelchair, one journey that has not always been easy or enjoyable. But despite all of that, Parker was determined to continue in the sport she loved. Just nine months after her accident, she competed and podiumed in the 2018 St. Kilda OUT Paratriathlon Oceania Championships, which qualified her to represent Team Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Competing in the PTWC sport class in paratriathlon, she then went and claimed the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. But the success did not stop there, she also finished third overall in the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships in Gold Coast, proving that determination trumps circumstances always and inspiration can come from anyone’s story.


Related Event: 2018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast
12 - Sep, 2018 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
DSQ. Russell White IRL DSQ
DSQ. Alistair Brownlee GBR DSQ
DNF. Felipe Barraza CHI DNF
DNF. Christophe De Keyser BEL DNF
DNF. Rodrigo Gonzalez Lopez MEX DNF
DNF. Makoto Odakura JPN DNF
DNF. Lukas Hollaus AUT DNF
DNF. Ryan Bailie AUS DNF
DNF. Yuichi Hosoda JPN DNF
DNF. Matthew McElroy USA DNF
Results: Elite Women
1. Ashleigh Gentle AUS 01:52:00
2. Vicky Holland GBR 01:52:02
3. Katie Zaferes USA 01:52:33
4. Laura Lindemann GER 01:52:53
5. Kirsten Kasper USA 01:53:15
LAP. Yi Zhang CHN LAP
LAP. Yiming Liu CHN LAP
DNF. Rebecca Spence NZL DNF
DNF. Anna Godoy Contreras ESP DNF
DNF. Alice Betto ITA DNF
Results: U23 Men
LAP. Rafael Domingos POR LAP
LAP. Tsz To Wong HKG LAP
LAP. Yu Hang Kok HKG LAP
LAP. Michael Lam HKG LAP
LAP. Darren Marquiss RSA LAP
LAP. James Tan HKG LAP
LAP. Matthew Greer RSA LAP
DNF. Simon Westermann SUI DNF
DNF. Kyle Smith NZL DNF
DNF. Ondrej Olsar CZE DNF
Results: U23 Women
1. Taylor Knibb USA 01:53:47
2. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA 01:55:22
LAP. Weiyao Guo CHN LAP
LAP. Andreia Ferrum POR LAP
LAP. Klaudia Sebők HUN LAP
LAP. Sara Guerrero Manso ESP LAP
LAP. Iveta Fairaislova CZE LAP
LAP. Gyuri Kim KOR LAP
DNF. Fuka Sega JPN DNF
DNF. Shanae Williams RSA DNF
Results: Junior Men
1. Csongor Lehmann HUN 00:52:49
2. Paul Georgenthum FRA 00:53:12
3. Philipp Wiewald GER 00:53:14
4. Boris Pierre FRA 00:53:20
DNS. Tim Hellwig GER DNS
LAP. Rhys Cheer FIJ LAP
LAP. Seth James PNG LAP
DNF. Levente Karai HUN DNF
DNF. Romaric Forques ESP DNF
DNF. Grigory Antipov RUS DNF
Results: Junior Women
1. Cecilia Sayuri Ramirez Alavez MEX 00:59:11
2. Erin Wallace GBR 00:59:23
3. Kate Waugh GBR 00:59:34
4. Pauline Landron FRA 00:59:46
5. Romy Wolstencroft AUS 00:59:51
6. Magdalena Früh AUT 01:00:03
7. Jessica Fullagar FRA 01:00:08
8. Desirae Ridenour CAN 01:00:10
9. Quinty Schoens NED 01:00:12
DNS. Selina Klamt GER DNS
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