By Milly McEvoy in Paris

Dave Ellis spent the day of the postponed triathlon thinking back to his DNF in Tokyo and then stormed to gold when the race finally took place. 

The Derby native suffered a mechanical failure in Tokyo as he failed to finish, meaning just transitioning onto the run in the French capital was a victory for him and guide Luke Pollard. 

The 38-year-old is one of the most relaxed athletes you will find but even he showed some vulnerability as he finally won a Paralympic medal at the third time of asking. 

“It’s absolutely unreal,” said Ellis, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

“Obviously, Tokyo was the opposite, but it’s been a tough couple of years so I’m so happy I had an awesome race today. 

“You only get a couple of chances in your career to do a Paralympics which makes it a lot more nervous, and you just want to do it on the day.  

“But it also makes it so special when you pull it off. 

“It’s a hot day, it’s warming up. Obviously with all the races on one day we got a later start, but we’ve done plenty of heat work which has helped and got us through the race.  

“There’s a little bit of shock in the system. I don’t know when it will sink it. It will take a while. I was still thinking back to Tokyo yesterday thinking ‘what was that like’ but this will be a much happier feeling.” 

The triathlon in Paris was delayed by a day due to a return of the water quality issues that had plagued the Olympic triathlon. 

It meant that Ellis, who trains in Loughborough, was began his race than originally scheduled, and the tough swim course meant the former swimmer did not emerge from the Seine with his customary lead. 

Ellis has been as dominant as you can be since 2019, winning every international race bar Tokyo and the European Championships two years ago, which was reduced to a duathlon. 

He was run close by Frenchman Antoine Perel before pulling away with a 16:18 split for the 5K run to savour the celebrations on the finish line. 

He added: “After one lap of the bike I thought ‘Oh yeah we’ve made it further.’  

“But this is obviously the biggest stage for Paralympic athletes, and you just want to do a great race on the day. 

“It was great to deliver that and feel really happy with the result. 

“You don’t want to finish your career like that in Tokyo, not even finishing the race.  

“It would have been a pretty terrible way to end a journey that I felt like I’d only just started because obviously the category wasn’t in for Rio and the sport’s still growing and it’s getting better every Paralympics, it’s just wanting to be a part of that movement.” 

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