Australia will field a star-studded line up of paratriathletes when the World Triathlon Para Series returns to Montreal.
 
Dual Paralympian Nic Beveridge (PTWC) and Paris Paralympic hopeful Justin Godfrey (PTS3) will be fresh from their wins in the opening round of the series in Yokohama.

The Montreal Para Series is the second stop of the series this year, after Yokohama and before Swansea, with paratriathletes then preparing for the World Championships that will take place in Abu Dhabi in November.

The 2022 season will bring perfect opportunities for all paratriathletes to test their performances before the Paralympic qualification period starts in July 2023. 

For the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, three more medal events have been added to the programme, including Godfrey’s PTS3 class.

In Yokohama, Beveridge found something extra within metres of the finish to surge ahead of local hero Jumpei Kimura (1:04.07) to claim a thrilling win, clenching his fists as he crossed the line with Kimura on his wheel - the pair hunched over exhausted after their race chair duel over the final five kilometres.
 
But Montreal will see wheelchair racing legend, dual Paralympic champion and five-time world champion Jetze Platz – from the Netherlands make his 2022 Series debut alongside teammate Geert Schipper.

Godfrey, with his PTS3 classification on the Paris 2024 program will re-acquaint his rivalry with Spain’s Kini Carrasco, second in Yokohama, with four-time Series winner Nico Van Der Burgt (NED) also joining the fray.

The 47-year-old Godfrey has been back in the saddle in 2022, after four years absence following his latest shoulder surgery, keen to make his mark in the lead up to Paralympic selection. 

Beveridge and Godfrey will be joined in Montreal by nine fellow Australians including Liam Twomey (PTS4), Jeremy Peacock (PTS4), David Bryant (PTS5), Jack Howell (PTS5), who’ll make his World Para Series Debut in Montreal, Commonwealth Games-bound Jonathan Goerlach (PTVI) with guide David Mainwaring, Tokyo silver medallist Lauren Parker (PTWC), 2020 Paralympian Emily Tapp (PTWC) and Sally Pilbeam (PTS4).

Parker will be making her 2022 World Triathlon season debut, where she will renew her rivalry with USA's Paralympic gold medallist Kendall Gretsch. Montreal will also mark the welcome return to racing for the ACT’s 2020 Paralympian Tapp who suffered an unfortunate crash in the Tokyo race.

Parker is further spreading her wings also, named on the 15-strong AusCycling team to contest the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships over August 11–14 in Baie-Comeau, Canada.

Former two-time world champion in the PTS4 class, WA’s Pilbeam, re-emerges to the world stage after retiring from the sport in 2020, after the enforced break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic allowed her to "reassess" her career. 

The 42-year-old Australian revealed at the time she believed it to be the "right time" to step back from sport. 

"The forced break in competition and training allowed me to spend more time with my family and I guess reassess where I was at and where I wanted to go," Pilbeam said.

"I really enjoyed this time, and there is a great deal of uncertainty of what lies ahead in racing.” 

Pilbeam, who earned her first women's PT3 world title in Edmonton in 2014, also triumphing the following year in Chicago, is looking forward to returning to racing.

She also went on to collect a 2015 Duathlon World Championship title, three World Championship silver medals, three World Paratriathlon Series wins, two Paratriathlon World Cup wins and six Oceania Championship titles over her seven-year career. 

Montreal’s spectacular venue at The Parc Jean Drapeau, will see the Australians take to the Bassin Olympique for the 750m swim before transitioning out and onto five laps of the Gilles-Villeneuve race track, home of the F1 Grand Prix. 

The races will conclude with two runs laps encompassing the F1 track and lake, giving the athletes an iconic setting for the finish.