Until 2016, the European Youth Championships were held as a relay and were contested alongside the European U23 Championships. Since then, however, European Youth athletes have competed for individual gold over the Super Sprint distance.
Following the wins of Fanni Szalai and Tristan Douche in Banyoles last week on the back of impressive performances, what can be gleamed for the experiences of previous winners? More specifically, who are the previous individual winners of the Youth Championships and how have their careers unfolded since?
When it comes to the 2022 event, not a lot of information can be drawn. Indeed, both winners raced at the 2023 European Youth Championships.
Tristan Douche won in 2022 and 2023. Last year, he held off Hector Tolsa García and Brandon Pye in a sprint finish. Meanwhile, Léa Houart won the women’s race. This year she followed that up with a bronze medal.
The 2021 winners are also still Juniors and so not a lot can be inferred from their subsequent performances.
Fiorenzo Angelini pipped João Nuno Batista, the newly-crowned World Junior champion, in the men’s race. Still a Junior, Angelini has not won an international since and last raced internationally at the European Junior Cup in Caorle in May.
On the women’s side, Mara Krombach of Luxembourg took the 2021 gold. In a run of bad luck, she did not finish at the 2022 European Youth Championships and was disqualified at the European Junior Championships in the same year. She did finish 17th at the World Junior Championships in Montreal, however she has not raced internationally in 2023.
The European Youth Championships did not take place in 2020 due to COVID.
In 2019, Igor Bellido Mikhailova of Spain took the win. He went on to win the Spanish Junior title in 2020, three European Junior Cups and the World Junior title in 2021 in an outstanding Junior career. Since then, he has successfully navigated the early steps into the Senior level. He made his World Cup debut in 2022, finishing 26th in Bergen and then 18th in Valencia.
He has not raced internationally in 2023 but will be one to watch over the coming years.
Anna Goreva of Russia won the women’s race at the European Youth Championships in 2019. However, she has suffered since under the Russian athlete ban. On the international scene, she last raced internationally at the Asia Cup in Manama in 2021 where she earned a bronze medal. Goreva showed plenty of promise as a Junior although factors that have been out of her control have derailed the last few years of her career.
Britain won both the men’s and women’s races at the 2018 European Youth Championships in Loutraki.
Connor Bentley was the men’s winner and four years later went on to become the World U23 champion. Bentley has since made his WTCS debut in 2023 and looks as if he could become a focal point of the British team in the coming years. Should Jonathan Brownlee ever retire, Bentley seems primed to step into the second British male slot beside his training partner, Alex Yee.
In the women’s race, Libby Coleman claimed the win. Coleman has not raced internationally since 2019 and finished 11th at the British Championships in 2022.
A British man also took the win at the 2017 event in Panevezys. Daniel Slater was the top performer that day however he has not raced internationally again after 2018. He finished 22nd at the 2018 World Junior Championships.
There was a further British connection in the women’s race. Jessica Fullagar won for France, although she has changed her sporting nationality to British. Last year, she helped Kate Waugh to the World U23 title with a breakaway on the bike. Given the depth of the British women’s team, Fullagar faces a challenge to break into the WTCS but it could certainly happen in the coming years.
In the meantime, she has logged some solid results in the French Grand Prix, including a 5th place this year in Fréjus.
Finally, we come to 2016. The inaugural individual event at the European Youth Championships took place in Tiszaujvaros. The men’s winner that day was none other than Vasco Vilaca.
This year, Vilaca has enjoyed an astonishing WTCS. He currently leads the Series after winning three medals, two of which have been silver. After showing plenty of promise over the years, he has truly emerged as a world title contender in 2023.
Sif Bendix Madsen won the women’s race in 2016. Even at the Youth level, she was young and she will still be eligible to race at the U23 level next season. In the years since her win in Tiszaujvaros, she has made her debut at the World Cup and WTCS levels. The high point of her career may have come with a bronze medal as part of the Danish team at the Mixed Team Relay in Hamburg 2021.
In the last couple of years, Madsen has not raced a lot, largely due to injury. She also appears to be moving up to middle distance racing and so it remains to be seen whether she will return to the WTCS or World Cup.
All in all, then, there have been some very promising talents to claim the European Youth title. Several, such as Bentley and Vilaca, have gone on to make major strides at the elite level of triathlon. Equally, several athletes have slipped away from the international level entirely.
On balance, success at the Youth level can be a helpful barometer for future potential, albeit in a rather limited way. It is by no means a guarantee of future promise and, by the same token, those that do need succeed at the Youth level could well turn out to be more successful in later years.
