As with the men’s field, the final places for the World Junior Championships in Hamburg have now been assigned.
World Triathlon reserved four slots on the start list for invited athletes. However, as a number of countries did not submit their entries either on time or at all, the number of invites was ultimately larger than expected.
Heidi Henry has been added to the start list, extending the Canadian team to four women. As seen with some of the men’s teams, while there is a cap of three athletes per country (per gender), the invites may add extra athletes to this number. Canada therefore qualified three women but have received a fourth slot via the invite process.
Henry will arrive in Hamburg in decent form. She finished 11th at the North American Junior Championships in Sarasota and 12th at the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana. At this stage in her career, she appears to be a little more of a swim-biker and might not have the run speed to trouble the podium.
On the other hand, her swimming is a real point of strength and, given the right circumstances, could put her into a breakaway and turn the tables of her more run-oriented rivals. Having finished 35th at the World Junior Championships in Montreal last year, Henry also has championship experience. It would therefore be no surprise to see her in the thick of the action.
Siyi Zhang is the first athlete from China to make this year’s World Junior Championships and will be one to watch.
Already this year, she has achieved three top-10 finishes at Asia Cup races. She got the ball rolling with a 9th place in Hong Kong and then followed it up with finishes of 8th in both Dexing and Lianyungang. Having performed well over the Olympic distance this year, strength and endurance will not be an issue.
Furthermore, at this point Zhang is a slightly better runner than swimmer which should elevate her into contention. When the race enters its deciding phase, Zhang has the capacity to be in the mix. The only two questions marks hanging over her are whether she will have the final burst of speed to separate her from the rest of the podium candidates and how well she will cope with her first race outside of Asia.
Celina Kaarup has been added to the start list for Denmark.
So far, 2023 has not really been her year. She finished 51st at the European Junior Cup in Caorle and did not start at the European Junior Cup in Olsztyn.
Things went a little better for her in 2022 as she won a bronze medal at the European Junior Cup in Panevezys. In addition, she finished 23rd at the European Junior Cup in Tiszaujvaros and competed at the European Junior Championships.
If she finds her form, then, Kaarup could have a good race in Hamburg.
The Dominican Republic earned one women’s slot for the World Junior Championships however did not enter an athlete when the start lists originally came out. Since then, Karel Alexa Ramirez Bodden has been added to the event for the Caribbean nation.
On the Junior front, Ramirez has enjoyed some solid results this year. She finished 24th in Sarasota and 21st in Punta Cana. A better indication of her potential, though, came at the Americas Cup in Lima where she finished 18th. In Lima, she swam and cycled well but ultimately tailed off on the run which stopped her breaking into the top-10.
With a little more training under her belt in the months since, she could impress in Hamburg.
Grete Maria Savitsch of Estonia has also been added to the start list. Savitsch did not have a great day in Caorle as she struggled to 70th overall. However, she bounced back in Olsztyn with a 15th place.
Not long after, she finished 8th at the Baltic Championships, matching her finish at the event from 2022.
As the 2023 Estonian Junior champion, she will have a great opportunity to test herself against the highest standard of Junior racing. Right now she is a good racer across the board but Hamburg will be an important step for her to identify what she needs to take the next step up in her career.
Germany will have another woman on the start list after Johanna Uherek was added. Uherek took a silver medal at the DTU Youth Cup which doubled as the final selection race for this year’s German Junior team. Prior to that, she finished 33rd in Caorle and so missed out on earning a slot in Hamburg by right.
Just this weekend, Uherek raced at the European Cup in Kitzbühel and finished 22nd against a Senior field that contained several international medallists. With a 9th to her name from the European Junior Cup in Bled in 2022, she has also performed well on the international Junior scene. In Hamburg, then, she could be among the best German finishers.
Sára Lehmann has been added to the Hungarian team, taking their total to four women. Despite her age (Lehmann was born in 2005), she has been steadily gaining international experience and last year finished 14th at the European Junior Cup in Riga.
This season, she went even better by taking 12th place in Olsztyn.
Given the exceptional standard of this year’s field, a top-15 might be Lehmann’s ceiling this time. However, given the form of the Hungarian team more broadly, it would be unwise to count her out. Over the past two years, her trajectory has been one of a clearly improving athlete across all three disciplines. She will need to race smart in Hamburg but it should be a great opportunity for her to learn and then come back stronger at next year’s championship.
Israel will now have a woman on the start list after Yali Vitkin received an invite.
Vitkin is in decent form after finishing 9th at the European Junior Cup in Olsztyn. Meanwhile, her 2022 results speak to an athlete that should be able to contend in Hamburg. She finished 6th at the European Junior Cup in Riga and was the runner-up at the Israeli Championships over both the Sprint and Olympic distances.
Last year’s Serbian Junior champion, Iva Pavlovic, has also been invited to race in Hamburg.
At the weekend Pavlovic finished 15th at the European Junior Cup in Izvorani which was her best result of the season so far. In Caorle, she had a day to forget after losing time in the swim, which cost her a place in the final. Based on her performance in Izvorani, though, Pavlovic seems to have rallied from the disappointment.
In 2022, she also finished 8th at the Balkans Championships in a Senior field and earned 7th place at the European Junior Cup in Chisinau. If she puts her best foot forward in Hamburg, then, Pavlovic could have a day to remember.
The final woman to have been added to the start list is Ruth Pardy of America.
She finished 12th in Sarasoa in what was her sole international start. In Sarasota, she had a similar day to Heidi Henry of Canada; she swam and cycled well but ultimately did not quite have the run speed to go with the leaders.
As one of the younger athletes in the field (Pardy was born in 2006), Hamburg will likely be a developmental race for her. In a year or two, though, once she has further international experience under her belt, look for her to grow into one of America’s leading Junior women.
