Para-triathlete David Bryant has taken second place at the ITU World Cup event in France over the weekend.
The 30 year-old Floreat resident is eyeing a Paralympic debut for Australia at next year’s Games in Tokyo and he has started his 2019 international season with a strong performance to finish just a minute and half behind the reigning Paralympic champion in the men’s PTS5 class, Martin Schulz of Germany.
Bryant was born with club foot in his right leg which sees him compete with a muscle mass differential of approximately 17% less than that of his left leg.
In the French town of Besancon near the country’s eastern border with Switzerland, the men’s PTS5 class were challenged with a 750m swim, a 21.350km bike and a closing 5km run leg.
Bryant tackled the course in 1:04:52 hours for a silver medal with Schulz asserting his dominance over the class with a winning time of 1:03:27.
Bryant got off to a great start with the second fastest swim leg, before completing the cycle stage with the third fastest split. He brought home his podium performance with the second slickest run time to secure second step on the podium ahead of bronze medallist Yannick Bourseaux (1:05:41) of France.
At Paralympic level, para-triathlon includes events for seated athletes, standings athletes and athletes with a visual impairment.
