THEY’RE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PAIRING IN PARATRI HISTORY, WITH WORLD, COMMONWEALTH AND EUROPEAN TITLES TO THEIR NAME. BUT IT’S PARALYMPIC GOLD THAT STILL EVADES DAVE ELLIS AND GUIDE LUKE POLLARD. COULD THIS BE THEIR YEAR?
INTERVIEW TIM HEMING IMAGES BEN LUMLEY
Q&A DAVE ELLIS & LUKE POLLARD
Dave Ellis and his guide, former RAF supplier Luke Pollard, head into 2024 as GB’s best hope for Paralympic paratri gold. With success in Spain last year giving them three consecutive world titles in the visually impaired class, the experienced duo also thrilled crowds and TV audiences in 2022 when they sped to Commonwealth gold in Birmingham.
With Ellis switching to paratri from a para swimming background in 2013, the pair have been an established partnership since 2019. But while they should start the race in Paris in September as favourites, they’ll face tough opposition and know that best laid plans don’t always work out.
The cruel misfortune of a snapped chain in Tokyo robbed them of glory in 2021, so when 220 caught up with the pair to talk about chasing the one title valued above all others, they were both cautiously optimistic…
220: Hello both, how do you rate your Paralympic chances going into this year?Dave Ellis: Quite good if it’s a triathlon, but a duathlon can be a bit more of an unknown. [Both the 2023 Paris Test Event and the European Champs became duathlons due to cancelled swims, with the Brits falling to their only defeat of the season in the latter]. The Euros became a tough race, and who knows what the water quality will be like in the Seine. I think it’ll be a different sort of race with more variables.
Luke Pollard: At least we’ve had a better start! [In early 2022, Dave was jogging home when he tripped over a dog lead and broke his arm].
220: How critical was winning in Paris, and did it matter that the swim was cancelled?
DE: It’s a bit of a weird one because it was quite a limited field and only a World Cup [second tier race], so you could argue it’s not that big of a deal. The Worlds was probably a truer test.
220: Where do your strengths lie?
LP: Given the amount of time we’ve spent together, we understand how one another is feeling within the race without even needing to communicate it. Experience definitely works in our favour.
220: Can you explain what being a B3 athlete means and what bearing ‘factoring’ may have on the outcome of a race?
DE: To make it so we [Eliis is a B3 athlete, with less than 10% vision] can race fair
