Paratriathlete from Lanzarote, Lionel Morales, has been crowned world champion in the PTS2 category at the event held in Tata, Hungary, with a time of 1:09:11.
The Lanzarote paratriathlete Lionel Morales has achieved his first major victory of the season by winning the World Championship of Paralympic Triathlon held in Tata, Hungary. The athlete, originally from Lanzarote, dominated the race from start to finish in the PTS2 category, stopping the clock at 1:09:11, more than a minute ahead of Italian Gianluca Valori (1:10:56) and Namibian Jeromius Rooi (1:24:20).
This victory is a significant boost for Morales, who had only just achieved a fifth place at the European Championship held in Tarragona a week ago. Now, the Lanzarote triathlete demonstrates that he is in top form for the upcoming international commitments.
Spectacular Start in the Water
The key to victory lay in the swimming segment. Morales emerged from the water with the best split of the category (12:56), despite the race taking place in a lake without wetsuits due to the water temperature reaching 27 degrees. “The swimming was quite controlled. A Ukrainian started very quickly, I followed him and caught up to him at the first buoy. We were together almost the whole way,” explained the athlete after the race.
Once in the lead, Morales gave no chance to his rivals. In the cycling segment, he again marked the best time (29:40), despite the course featuring 80-85% cobblestones, which made it difficult to control the prosthesis. “I had to arrive quite smoothly and I was able to push a bit more,” he noted.
Suffering and Emotion in the Final Stretch
The running segment was the most tense. Morales maintained the pace thanks to the instructions from Samuel García, from the staff, who was calling out the times. “He told me I was at 2:45 after the first lap and then at 3:05, so I relaxed in the last lap because I was risking a lot with the cobblestones,” he recounted. However, the most delicate moment came at the finish line: “As I was entering the finish, I almost fell. I had to grab onto the fence because my prosthesis slipped, but well,” he confessed with a laugh.
The triumph in Hungary is a significant boost for the Lanzarote paratriathlete, who is already preparing for the next objectives: the Spanish Championship on August 22, a World Cup in Alhambra (Portugal), and the grand final in Pontevedra in September.
For the Canary Islands followers of adapted sports, Lionel Morales' victory is a source of pride and demonstrates that the archipelago continues to be a cradle of great champions. The next challenge for the Lanzarote athlete will be to defend the national title and continue accumulating points for the world ranking.
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