PARIS – After high bacteria numbers in the River Seine pushed all Triathlon events back a day, the United States proved that even a delay couldn’t stop its Triathlon dyansty.

The unique course featured a 750-meter swim in the River Seine followed by a 20-kilometer cycle on the Champs Elysees, Avenue Montaigne, and Pont Des Invalides and finished with a five-kilometer run to the Quai d’Orsay.

It was Kendall Gretsch in the women’s PTWC getting the United States its first medal of the day. After the swim and transition to biking, the Tokyo 2020 gold medal winner was in seventh place. Between the cycling and swimming portion of the race, she regained over a minute and a half of time on the leading racer, Australia’s Lauren Parker, but could never fully close the gap and had to settle for silver. 

“I’m proud of my race today. It wasn’t necessarily the outcome I was looking for, but I couldn’t have done anything else,” remarked Gretsch, whose final time stood at 01:07:46. “That was everything, and that is all you can ask for.”

In the Men’s PTS2, the United States had two athletes medal, Mohamed Lahna with silver and Mark Barr with bronze. Though Lahna earned the higher spot by 15 seconds, it was Barr who slayed larger demons.

“I’ve been chasing the podium for 20 years, since 2004. I’ve gotten three-fourth places, which is the worst place you can get in a race,” uttered the 6th-time Paralympian. “In training, I had a picture on my phone of all the podiums I had missed. It was good motivation to get me through the dog days”

The U.S. had multiple participants reach the podium in the women’s PTS2 and scored its first gold medal of the triathlon along the way. The race pitted 3 U.S. athletes, Hailey Danz, Allysa Seely and Melissa Stockwell, against one another. Danz reached the top of the podium while Seely got the bronze medal; both had times under 01:17:00.

Danz, who’s ranked number one in the world for her classification, had everything working during the event.

“I was in a really unique position this year in that I felt confident across all three,” said Danz. “That’s such a rare thing in triathlons for all three cylinders to be firing; it doesn’t happen very often.”

After an hour and a half break, six races started in five-minute increments after noon, at one point all being in progress at one time. With the U.S. starting to dominate, it seemed as if every few minutes a new USA athlete was crossing the finish line as a medal winner.

Chris Hammer continued the theme of breaking past previous limits. Racing in the PTS5, he took gold for his first-ever Paralympic medal. That was after back-to-back Paralympics, where he came in fourth place in triathlon events. The secret to his improvement: more regimented training with Project Podium, USA Triathlon’s elite developmental camp at Arizona State University.

“My preparation changed; I’ve never trained like a pro before, and I guess that hard work pays off,” remarked Hammer.

Training regiments became a theme of the second half of the competition. After finishing with a silver medal thanks to a time just above one hour in the PTS4, Carson Clough credited a pre-Paralympics training program in France for the U.S.’s dominance.

“You’re seeing medals tumble in because USA Triathlon just did a month where they put us up in Vichy and gave us everything that we needed,” claimed Clough. “All I had to do is put what they taught me to work and fortunately it worked out.”

The final medal winner of the day and the third to win gold for the USA was Grace Norman, her time in the women’s PTS5 more than a minute faster than the second-place competitor. Norman got back to the top of the podium after claiming silver in Tokyo three years ago and gold in Rio eight years ago. She also credited the same trip with helping her triumph.

“The training was awesome; we were all able to be there as a team and get accustomed to the time zone, the food, everything,” said Norman. “It really set me up for success here.” 

When all was said and done, the United States had captured eight medals. The U.S. gained hardware in four of the eight events in which it sent competitors during the triumphant day.