Schulz weeps in a struggle, competitor clinches bronze medal
At the Paralympic Games in Paris, Germany's triathlon performances significantly improved, with both Martin Schulz and Anja Renner delivering noteworthy results. Despite just missing out on his personal gold hat-trick, Schulz picked up a bronze medal, which left him emotional. Meanwhile, Renner also had reasons to celebrate, earning a third-place finish.
Martin Schulz narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of gold medals at the Paralympics in Paris. As the German team's flag bearer, he completed the 750 meters swimming, 20 kilometers cycling, and 5 kilometers running in 59 minutes and 19 seconds. Despite his best efforts, he ultimately finished in third place, falling 35 seconds short of victory. His training partner Max Gelhaar had already earned silver in the PTS3 class just before him, while Renner claimed bronze in the visually impaired category.
Schulz, who is missing his left arm, initially lagged behind in the swimming stage due to his disability. However, he managed to take the lead on the bicycle phase and even built a 5-second advantage. However, he struggled to maintain his pace during the run and eventually let his main competitors get away. Before his successes in Rio and Tokyo, Schulz was the only Paralympic winner in his division.
Renner's significant career milestone
Renner, teaming up with guide Maria Paulig, achieved her career-best result, finishing third, with Spain and Italy proving just slightly stronger. The 38-year-old finally earned her first international medal after several attempts. Neele Ludwig finished eighth in the PTS2 class.
The swimming events were unfortunately cancelled due to poor water quality on Sunday. After heavy rain on Friday, a brief thunderstorm with heavy rain fell late Saturday evening. As a result, the Olympic athletes suffered from nausea and even vomiting following their open water races.
Recently, the French government invested approximately 1.4 billion euros to improve the water quality of the Seine. This involved connecting numerous households to the sewage system, which previously discharged their wastewater directly into the river and its tributaries. An enormous overflow basin was also built in Paris to prevent the sewage system from overflowing into the Seine during heavy rain, a common occurrence prior to this upgrade.
Martin Schulz's third-place finish at the Paralympics in Paris this year added to his impressive record, as he had previously won gold in Rio and Tokyo. Rennew's career-best result at the same games, a third-place finish in the visually impaired category, marked her first international medal after numerous attempts in the Paralympics.
