Derby triathlete Dave Ellis has been waiting 12 years to return to the Paralympic Games and is determined to overcome the latest obstacle in his path. 

After representing ParalympicsGB in the pool at Beijing 2008, Ellis missed out on selection for the swimming squad at London 2012 before his men’s PTVI category was omitted from the Games in Rio four years later. 

The visually impaired athlete did the European and world double in 2017 and 2018 and despite the postponement of the Games to 2021, feels an extra year can help him qualify and get back to the sport's pinnacle. 

“It’s given me a chance to reassess and to improve a little bit, obviously it’s gutting to not be able to perform this year, but I’ve got another year, so I want to do even better,” said the 34-year-old.

“And if I am better, then hopefully it will lead to the result we want next year.
“After going to Beijing in 2008 and then missing out on London I didn’t really know what to do, and wasn’t sure if I still wanted to swim.

“But then I had the opportunity to try triathlon in a talent ID day, which I thought I’d have no chance at because as a sprint swimmer you’re racing for a minute rather than an hour.

“I went along to it anyway just to see, and I actually really enjoyed it. The bike was probably hardest to adapt to, because I didn’t ride a bike much as kid, so it wasn’t quite as natural, whereas I took to the running quite well.

“It felt like training was the outlet, it got me out of being sat around the house, so it almost made it easier to train because it was the main activity for the day.”

The national lockdown posed problems for para-athletes and none more so than those in aquatic sports with Ellis's pool closed for much of 2020. 

The Loughborough-based athlete decided to bring the water to him as he installed a paddling pool at his home to keep fitness levels up. 

That wasn’t the only change to the routine either, with trips out on the bike having to be replaced by a turbo trainer, as he continued to find alternative ways to deal with the new normal. 

The makeshift workout solution has had a lasting effect on Ellis, with future training set to incorporate more work on the static bike, although the paddling pool won’t be a permanent fixture. 

“It has been very different to the way I’ve been training for the last two years, because we spend a lot of time on the tandem, running in groups and swimming,” Ellis added.

“I’ve ended up doing a lot more work on the turbo, and we actually got a little paddling pool at one point to try and do a bit of swimming. That was a bit chilly! 

“A bit more time on the turbo has improved power on the bike, and with Tokyo having a hot climate you’re already getting a bit of heat adaptation from riding inside, so I think that will help as well.”

After a barnstorming performance in 2019 in which he was only off the podium once in seven races, Ellis will be doing all he can to get back to his best by the time he travels to Tokyo in August, with plans already in the diary to deal with the humidity of race day in Japan.

He continued: “We had a plan for 2020 but obviously that got scrapped pretty quickly, but 2021 we’re going to be doing similar to what we would have done humidity-wise.

“We’ll be going to Florida for a heat and humidity camp and those weeks being in the heat before you compete will definitely make a difference.” 

Dave is part of the British Triathlon performance programme which is supported by UK Sport and the National Lottery. For more information on Dave, view his profile here: https://www.britishtriathlon.org/gb-teams/elite-team/athletes.