Steadman's race for Paris fitness after long Covid

Paralympic champion Lauren Steadman says she "doesn't feel ready" to compete after suffering from long Covid, despite being named in the British triathlon squad for Paris 2024.

Steadman, 31, won Paralympic gold three years ago in Tokyo in the women's PTS5 triathlon and will compete in that discipline again in France.

She forms part of an 11-strong ParalympicsGB squad for Paris 2024 who, along with three guides, will race on 1 and 2 September.

Since Tokyo, Steadman took a two-year break from triathlon and has fallen to 11th in the world rankings.

She has returned to competition in the build-up to Paris 2024, but said that her preparations have been severely hampered after testing positive for coronavirus in March - and was not cleared to race again by doctors until last Sunday.

"Covid attacked my central nervous system, and I’ve had long Covid since," she told BBC Sport. "I haven't had the preparation I would like to have done, the medical staff have looked after my training.

"The normal benchmarks for me to work out how I have been doing, but I haven't been on a blue carpet this week, I haven't raced any of the girls so I don't know where they are at or where I'm at. So there are a lot of unknowns.

"But I only have one body, I respect it, and we have another six weeks. I just have to have confidence and use my experience that my body will get me there. You cannot push things when it comes to breathing."

Asked whether she will be ready for the games, Steadman said: "It is going to be a fine line. Normally I would like to feel ready to race about three months before a Games. I don't feel ready right now.

"We have a plan which will be down to the line, so I likely won't feel race ready until a couple of weeks before."

The women's PTS5 triathlon is scheduled to take place in Paris on 1 September.

Steadman still expects to be competing for a medal on that date against British team-mate Claire Cashmore and American triathlete Grace Norman, who are ranked one and two in the world in her category.

They are also the two women Steadman beat to gold in Tokyo, with Norman taking silver while Cashmore had to settle for bronze after receiving a one-minute penalty for a drafting violation.

Among the other members of the British squad are six-time world champion Dave Ellis - who will race with guide Luke Pollard - and Rio 2016 silver medallist Alison Peasgood, alongside her guide Brooke Gillies.

Michael Taylor will also return having finished seventh in Tokyo, while Mel Nicholls will compete in her third Paralympic Games and her first since moving into Para-triathlon from athletics.

Paralympic debutants Henry Urand, Finley Jakes, Hannah Moore, Megan Richter and Oscar Kelly - with guide Charlie Harding - complete the GB team.

After reaching the pinnacle of her career in Tokyo, Steadman says she struggled with the comedown and fell out of love with the sport.

She has previously explored options outside of triathlon - most notably when reaching the quarter-finals of Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 - and has also begun training in cross-country skiing in the hope of representing Great Britain at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics.

But having returned to triathlon, she says the career break was the best thing she could have done.

"After getting gold it was hardest part of my whole career," she said. "I needed to prepare myself for the aftermath. I was just sat at home with my gold medal on the sofa, not sure what to do with myself.

"I didn't want to retire and British Triathlon were great in supporting me. I wanted to get [back] in touch with that little girl who loved sport.

"Now I'm back and I love it. Having time out allowed me to work out who I am, outside of sport."

Both Steadman and Cashmore are experienced Paralympians - Paris will be their fifth and sixth Games respectively.

And Cashmore, who won Paralympic gold in swimming at Rio 2016 before switching to triathlon, is ready to use all her prior experience - good and bad - to top the podium this year.

The 36-year-old is in red-hot form - top of the world rankings, victorious in three major races this calendar year, and winner of three successive European titles since Tokyo.

"Tokyo was a learning curve, I got a lot of things wrong in the race," she said. "It makes you grow as an athlete. But now I am in really good shape.

"The dream is to have a smooth race. That's very rare in triathlon, not like swimming when in safe environment. But it's given me more motivation over the last three years."