Rostraver native finishes 6th in triathlon at Paralympic Games

By Joe Napsha

Trib Total Media

A Rostraver native finished sixth Friday night in the triathlon competition in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Eric McElvenny, 38, of Bethel Park, representing the U.S. Paralympic Triathlon Team, finished in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 58 seconds. That was just 6 minutes, 2 seconds off the winner from France in a competition consisting of swimming in open water for almost one-half mile, a 12-mile bicycle ride and a 3.1-mile run.

McElvenny finished strong in his first paralympic triathlon competition, according to NBC analyst Patricia Collins, who was a member of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Triathlon team.

He was competing in a field of 10 men in his classification, based on the degree of activity of limitation they face as a result of their impairment, according to the International Paralympic Committee.

Prior to the competition, Collins described McElvenny as “super strong” and an athlete who was able to take advantage of the yearlong delay in the competition because of the COVID pandemic in 2020.

McElvenny went into training the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Collins said. Then, the men’s and women’s teams went to Hawaii to train together, swimming in the open ocean.

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