DUNFERMLINE triathlete Alison Peasgood has described competing at the Paralympic Games as "pretty special" after narrowly missing out on a medal.
The 33-year-old, who won a silver medal in Rio in 2016, had to settle for fourth place in the women's PTVI event despite a monumental effort that almost saw her catch France's Annouck Curzillat.
A Herculean sprint for the line in the PTVI women’s race saw @ali_p87 and guide @NikkiBartlett1 juuuust out of the medals in 4th place.
— ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) August 28, 2021
Stunning effort in these punishing conditions from all our athletes. 🙌#ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/XWzgT8bK5J
On Saturday, the triathlon events at the 16th running of the Games, in Tokyo, made their bow and Alison, together with guide Nikki Bartlett, went in search of a medal at the Odaiba Marine Park.
Competing in the event classification for athletes with total or partial visual impairment, she revealed after the race that she had suffered a back injury only three weeks ago and doubted whether she would be able to take part.
After completing the 750 metre swim in a time of 16 minutes and 16 seconds, Alison and Nikki transitioned to the 20 kilometre cycle, which took her total time to 49:19 ahead of the final part of the event, the 5km run.
An impressive effort saw the pair close in on Curzillat and her guide, Celine Bousrez, as the race came to a conclusion.
Although the Team GB pair were catching the French duo whilst running down the home straight, they ran out of track, and finished two seconds behind the eventual bronze medallists in a time of 1:11.47.
However, speaking to Paralympics GB afterwards, Alison revealed that just making it to the start line was an achievement after an injury scare in the build-up to the Games.
She said: "Three weeks ago I hurt my back. "I was on crutches at the holding camp and I didn’t think this was possible.
"Even up until last week we still thought we might be flying back. So to be here and actually be competitive is pretty special."
The event was won by Spain's Susana Rodriguez, and guide Sara Loehr, in a time of 1:07.15, with Italy's Anna Barbaro, and guide Charlotte Bonin, finishing second in 1:11.11.
Meanwhile, Dunfermline 1500m runner, Owen Miller, will compete in the T20 event - for athletes with learning or intellectual impairments - on Friday.
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