Bill Chaffey (born 9 October 1975) is an Australian paratriathlete who won his fifth world championship in 2015. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.[1]
 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 9 October 1975 Tamworth, New South Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Tweed Valley Triathletes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal
Chaffey became an incomplete paraplegic when, as a non-disabled triathlete training for an Ironman Triathlon, he was hit by a truck while on his bicycle.[2]
Career
He competes in the PT1 (handcycle/racing wheelchair classification) (formerly TRI-1) and was TRI-1 Paratriathlon World Champion in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015.[3] Chaffey's come-from-behind win over Jetze Plat was named in the International Paralympic Committee's Top 50 moments in Paralympic sport of 2013.[4] Chaffey was nominated for IPC Athlete of the Month in September 2013.[5]
In January 2013, Chaffey won the inaugural Australian Paratriathlon Championships, beating Ironman and Paralympian John Maclean and Paralympic rower Erik Horrie.[6][7][8] He won the Men's TRI-1 classification of the 2014 Oceania Paratriathlon Championships in a world best time of 58.22,[9] and won the 2014 ITU World Paratriathlon event in Elwood, Melbourne.[10][11]
In March 2013, Chaffey set a new TRI-1 world best time for an Olympic distance triathlon. His time of 2:08:59 bettered the previous record by 5 minutes.[12] In 2016 Chaffey again bettered that time by over 5 minutes setting a new world best time of 2:02:35.
In May 2013, Chaffey raced Ironman Cairns where he qualified for Ironman World Championships in Kona.[13][14][15] He placed 2nd his classification in Kona.[16]
Chaffey was forced to withdraw from the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Series Final in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada after breaking his hip in a training accident at home just prior to the event.[17] In January 2015, he returned from injury to win the Oceania Paratriathlon Championships PT1 event at Penrith, New South Wales.[18]
Chaffey won his fifth world championship at the 2015 World Championships Final in Chicago.[19]
Chaffey competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games and finished fourth in the Men's PT1 event.[20] In preparation for the Paralympics, Chaffey stated "I just thought, this has to be mine. I have to have it...the Paralympics, A paralympic gold would not be a level step up but a greater step up, it's something I'm really putting a lot of focus on."[21] During the Paralympics, Chaffey expressed his love of triathlon through saying "It's triathlon, it's in my blood. I love it. It's the greatest sport in the world".[22]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Queensland, he won the bronze medal in the men's PWTC despite crashing in the hand cycle leg and riding the final 8 km of that leg with one pedal.[23]
In his final major international event, at the 2018 World Championships, Gold Coast, Queensland, he finished sixth in the Men's PTWC.[24]
Recognition
- 2016 – Australian Paratriathlete of the Year[25]
References
External links
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
