Seventy men and seventy women will start at the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. To get to that magic number, though, a complicated process had to be followed to assign the right to race.
To start with, sixty-five slots for both genders were assigned at pre-determined qualification events. One slot per gender was then reserved for the host country and the last four places were covered by “invites” sent by World Triathlon. You can read more about the process of earning slots here.
However, things are not quite as simple as they appear.
Germany qualified three women at the European Junior Cup in Caorle; as there is a three athlete cap when it comes to slots, the host slot was instead added the World Triathlon’s invites.
By contrast, Germany failed to qualify any men in Caorle. The host slot was therefore awarded and taken up by Henning Scholl. That left four male slots for World Triathlon invites and five female places.
Yet there is another point to consider. As has been seen with the start lists so far, a number of federations have not taken up their slots. As a result, these extra places are then added to World Triathlon’s invites.
The invites have now been issued and we can confirm the additional athletes that will be starting in Hamburg. In this article, we will look at the men that have been added to the start list. The article for the women’s invites will be available shortly.
Leading the new additions will be Jack Crome of Australia. Having originally been named a reserve on the Australian team, he was placed on the wait list for the race and received an invite to start. Note, Australia had already qualified three men, hitting their quota of athletes. The invite does not necessarily count towards the quota as World Triathlon issues at on top of the process. As such, Australia will be one of a handful of countries with four men starting.
Crome could do very well in Hamburg. Earlier in the year, he won a silver medal at the Australian Junior Championships in Adelaide and a bronze medal at the Oceania Junior Championships in Taupo. One thing that stood out in Adelaide was how he tried to take on essentially the entire race solo. His tactics spoke to being a gutsy racer that is prepared to take risks.
As a strong swimmer, Crome will be towards the front of the race throughout. It remains to be seen, though, it he will be able to launch a similar move to his attack in Adelaide.
Sage Sulentic will be the fourth Canadian man to start after being bumped up from the wait list. He finished 7th at the North American Junior Championships in Sarasota and 13th at the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana. Like Crome, he is quick in the water and will look to use the swim to his advantage.
Sulentic has also raced at some recent Americas Cup events and notably claimed 14th place in St. Peters. The swimming and cycling should not be a problem for him in Hamburg. The run, however, could undermine him a little.
Jakub Homola will line up in Hamburg as the Czech Republic’s only athlete.
A finish of 49th in Caorle preceded a 12th place at the European Junior Cup in Olsztyn. In contrast to Crome and Sulentic, Homola’s run is the most developed part of his skillset. On the other hand, he has often lost time in the swim; that happened in both Caorle and Olsztyn. He was able to recover in the latter but not in the former.
Homola’s day in Hamburg will therefore be decided fairly early on. If he can piece together a good swim, he should be able to unleash his run later on. If not, he might be stranded in one of the chase packs.
Magnus Lynge Larsen will be Denmark’s second man on the start list. Finishes of 40th in Caorle and 11th in Olsztyn mark him out as being on similar form to Homola.
Compared to Homola, though, Lynge Larsen is much more of a swim-biker. That could help him make the front group but his run is still an improving aspect of his race and is not yet something he can completely rely upon at the top level.
Jan Pluta has earned an invite to become the second German man in the race. In many respects, there is an element of justice at Pluta being able to start. He won the German Junior tests in Kienbaum and then was Germany’s best male finisher in Caorle (claiming 51st place on his international debut).
He was originally denied a place on the team after finishing 2nd behind Henning Scholl at the DTU Youth Cup in Jena. The margin between Scholl and Pluta that day was only 4 seconds.
Pluta is a very well rounded athlete, with speed in all three disciplines. His inexperience showed a little in Caorle so he will have to be tactically smarter in Hamburg if he wants to rise up the order. In terms of ability, there is nothing holding him back. Yet to make the step up, he will have to nail his mental preparation.
Taking a second slot for Hong Kong will be Yui Fung Chan, the Asian Youth champion from 2022.
This year, he finished 23rd at the Asia Cup Hong Kong and so is in solid form. Being born in 2006, the Senior level has certainly been a baptism of fire but Chan has handled it well. He is a very good swimmer and decent in the other two disciplines. Right now, though, he seems a little too young to make a major impact in Hamburg.
In all likelihood, the race will be a learning opportunity and in the next few years he could emerge as one of the leading Junior contenders.
Gergő Gyula Soós has received a fourth slot for Hungary. As with several of the men noted already, he trends as a swim-biker. At the European Junior Cup in Olsztyn, where he finished 8th, he pushed the pace in the water and on the early stages of the bike. With the right company, he could be the kind of athlete to blow the rise open with an early breakaway.
He also made the final in Caorle but slipped to 29th. With a fast Hungarian team around him, Soós could be part of the group that shapes how the race unfolds.
Filip Lizak of Slovakia will be racing after finishing 45th in Caorle. He is decent swimmer and runner but maybe lacks a bit of power on the bike. If he can put himself into the right group in Hamburg, he could ride into contention. However, with the depth of the field, he may have to first improve his cycling before he can truly make a dent internationally.
Paul Frayon has been added to the Swedish team.
Frayon took 7th place at the European Junior Cup in Riga in 2022 in a very promising performance. This year has not gone quite as well for him, with finishes of 43rd at the European Junior Cup in Quarteira and tying with Pluta for 51st in Caorle.
He has championship experience, having raced at the European Junior Championships last year (finishing 45th). However, like Lizak, his cycling is a little behind his running and swimming right now which could hold him back.
Tunisia will have a third man racing in the form of Mohamed Aziz Hamdi. Hamdi won the silver medal at the African Junior Championships in 2022 and deepens an already interesting team. This year, he has only made one international appearance which was a slightly underwhelming 5th place at the African Junior Cup in Yasmine Hammamet.
Given his performances in 2022, though, he is capable of much more.
He possesses a good turn of pace in the swim and is perhaps the likeliest of any male athlete from Africa to make it into the front pack. Indeed, he could even sneak into a breakaway. Moreover he is a good runner so will be able to contend throughout the event.
The final male invite was taken by Reese Vannerson. The American was a bronze medallist at the World Junior Championships in 2022 and this year took 8th place at the North American Junior Championships in Sarasota.
Rather than anything on the triathlon front, the big talking point around Vannerson this year has been his running form.
He recently concluded his high school track career with some huge performances as he logged times of 8:49.10 in the 3200m – the fastest ever time run on Texas soil – and 4:08.08 in the 1600m (on the same day no less).
To contextualise his showings, Hayden Wilde’s mile best time on the track is a 4:05.49, which he ran in January 2021, two weeks before he clocked his 5000m PB of 13:29.
Vannerson should therefore be among the best runners in Hamburg. With a medal already to his name, he will definitely contend for another one this time around.
