ALISON PEASGOOD is aiming to add a Commonwealth Games medal to her Paralympic silver after her place at Birmingham 2022 was confirmed.
Commonwealth Games Scotland announced on Monday that the 34-year-old Paratriathlon star will be part of Team Scotland for this summer’s event, which begins on July 28.
Visually-impaired, Peasgood, who first took up the sport in 2013, races with a guide athlete, who she is tethered to during the swim and run elements of the Paratriathlon, before cycling with them on a tandem bike.
A 750 metre swim is followed by a 20km cycle and a 5km run, and Peasegood will head for Birmingham – which she thinks will “feel like a home race” – with an impressive record in the event.
She is a two-time world champion, in 2014 and 2016, and a three-time winner of the European crown, in 2015, 2016 and 2018, and memorably won a silver medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
Peasgood, who is from Dunfermline, missed out narrowly on gold, together with her guide, Hazel Smith, to Australia’s Katie Kelly, but her achievements saw her named as Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council’s Sports Personality of the Year for 2016.
She returned to the Paralympic Games stage last year in Tokyo, in which she and guide Nikki Bartlett placed fourth, just two seconds outside the bronze-medal position, a colour of gong she won in November’s World Triathlon Para Championships.
Speaking to the Team Scotland website about her selection, Peasgood, who has been a member of the World Class, National Lottery-funded British Paratriathlon squad since 2014, said: “I’m excited to represent Scotland as it’s so rare to get that opportunity and it is fantastic that Paratriathlon will once again be on a big stage and will reach a much wider audience.
“My training has been really consistent over the winter; I’ve been working with a new coach and have a more stable guide support which has made training easier. I am excited to put it all together this race season.
“The crowds in Leeds last year at the Para World Series was beyond anything I’ve experienced, outside of Rio 2016. I fully expect Birmingham to be as good, if not better. I studied at the University of Birmingham so it will feel like a home race with lots of friends and family able to come watch. I can’t wait!”
Meanwhile, three swimmers with West Fife connections have been put forward for consideration for Commonwealth Games selection.
Former Woodmill High School pupil, Emma Russell, has been nominated by the Scottish Swimming Birmingham 2022 Selection Group to Commonwealth Games Scotland alongside ex-Carnegie Swimming Club duo Tain Bruce, from Hillend, and Mark Szaranek.
Meanwhile, Dunfermline’s Sarah Jane Ewing has been chosen as one of Scotland’s lawn bowls athletes at Birmingham 2022
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