Susana Rodríguez's saddest silver: "It is a shame that something like this happens at a World Cup"

With tears of helplessness. This is how Susana Rodríguez ended up in the final of the World Series held in Pontevedra after seeing how the gold slipped from her hands due to a harsh penalty.. She competed in her homeland and was the great favorite to take first place on the podium and to become world champion for the fifth consecutive year.. However, he had to settle for second place.. “It is a shame and a sadness that there are officials measuring the races who do not know what they have to do and it is a shame that the World Triathlon, which boasts so much about equality, gives you a sanction for blocking some guys who had somewhere to pass. It's worth learning so it doesn't happen to us again,” said the triathlete, completely broken.

The woman from Vigo was shown a yellow card in the cycling section, specifically in the second lap, since she was supposedly obstructing the passage of a male tandem. The athlete herself explained at the finish line what had happened: “In the Paralympic triathlon, on the bike you cannot go by wheel, we have to drive on the right and overtake on the left. In the second round, some guys came with a tandem, who are much stronger than us, they overtook us in a few seconds and they did it on the right because they wanted to, because there was room on both sides, but the official judge gave us a yellow card to us,” she confessed to the newspaper Marca.

After the sanction, the test only got worse for Susana Rodríguez. With that warning, both she and her guide had to stop for a minute in the penalty box, but the organization was not up to the task.. “The officer who was in charge of measuring time and writing down your number was leaning on the table. Sara, my guide, hit the table three or four times, but the lady, who must not know her job, told us to leave because we had to make a stop in the race.. I know that's not the case because I've been competing for a long time.. We lost 40 seconds and from then on I couldn't get back into the race,” lamented the athlete.

A fatal mistake

She herself commented that after the incident it was difficult for her to concentrate again, and she has to be very attentive to her guide since any mistake can be fatal.. “It's a shame that something like this happens in a world championship,” said the woman from Vigo.. After this, the Spanish Triathlon Federation presented a claim to the World Triathlon, but the organization ended up accepting the decision.

The woman from Vigo maintained second place, crossing 32 seconds behind the Italian Francesca Tarantello. This classification does not affect him too much, since his place for Paris 2024 is guaranteed.

Despite her anger, and taking into account what she had experienced during the test, Susana wanted to have a gesture of gratitude for the support that the people of Pontevedra had shown her, both during the competition and in the days before.. “I feel happy to have managed to create this desire to see the paratriathlon over all the years, that is the most important thing today,” he acknowledged.