Having delved into some of the prominent rising Junior women to watch this season, today it is the turn of the men.
The class of athletes that left the Junior ranks at the end of the 2023 was nothing short of stacked. The focus here is on those that can be projected to make more of an immediate impact at the U23 and Senior levels. To that end, emphasis has been placed upon championship racing and Senior racing. Performances at Junior Cups are another important marker, and have also been considered, albeit to a lesser extent.
With plenty of talent to choose from, any of the below five names (or any of those not listed) could go on to become this year’s David Cantero del Campo and win a World Cup in their first season out of the Junior ranks.
Bradley Course (AUS)
A sensible place to start is with the only rising Junior athlete that is already a Senior Continental champion. One of the big questions that will arise in the first part of the season is whether Course will be able to defend his Oceania title. He won with a spectacular performance in 2023 and will be a marked man at this year’s event.
Already in his young career, Course has enjoyed plenty of Senior success. A silver medal at the Holten European Cup was a big moment while he also finished 5th at the Oceania Cup in Wanaka and 7th at the Oceania Cup (and Sprint Championships) in Devonport. Perhaps more than any other man in his cohort, he arrives at the Senior level ready to make an immediate impact.
On the championship front, he is also the reigning Oceania Junior champion. In doing so he accomplished the unheard of combination of holding the Junior and Senior titles in the same year. His achievement also made him the first Australian to qualify for the World Junior and World U23 Championships in the same season. Course went on to place 14th at the World Junior Championships – a solid outing – and 24th at the World U23 Championships.
Looking ahead to the coming season, claiming silverware on the world level will likely be at the forefront of his mind.
Mathis Beaulieu (CAN)
Beaulieu enjoyed Junior and Senior success in equal measure in 2023.
He won the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana and went on to win the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships. Moreover, he was the Americas Junior champion in 2022.
On the Senior front, Beaulieu won the Sarasota Americas Cup and claimed the silver medal at the Americas Cup in Ixtapa. At the latter, it took a huge late sprint from World Cup winner Crisanto Grajales to stop him.
He also finished 9th at the Americas Cup in St. Peters last sprint while in 2022 he took the win at the Americas Cup in Stockton. In the last two years, then, Beaulieu has ticked just about every box possible. Indeed, he even made his World Cup debut. Thus far he has recorded finishes of 31st in Vina del Mar and 35th in Huatulco.
With his track record of success and nascent world level experience, look for him to make a splash on the World Cup circuit and at the World U23 Championships in 2024.
Zalán Hóbor (HUN)
On the one hand, Hóbor’s achievements on the Junior scene mark him out as a man to watch. He is the reigning European Junior Championships silver medallist and won more European Junior Cups in 2023 than any other man (three). After enjoying a very successful season, it would be easy to rely upon his medal-winning habit as a reason to expect success this year.
On the other hand, far from the medals he has won, it is the way Hóbor races that really forces his inclusion here.
The Hungarian athlete was part of the heroic breakaway at the World Junior Championships. His fearless racing nearly paid off and he was the last man standing from the lead group. On the European Junior Cup circuit, too, he has also regularly raced aggressively and pushed for breakaways. It did not always come off but he was always willing to animate races.
Whereas some Juniors can be a little tentative and try to save their energy and pick their moment, Hóbor takes a completely different approach.
As with some of the other men listed, Hóbor made his World Cup debut last season. He raced in Rome at the end of a long campaign and finished 41st. By itself, the result is not the most eye-catching. Then again, not everyone can be Tilda Månsson and win World Cups as a Junior.
The most significant point of Hóbor’s race in Rome was that he was the second fastest man in the water and among the first into T1. The ability to lead out the swim at the Senior level hands him an automatic advantage. With his style of racing, he will only need one breakaway to go his way to potentially come away with a top-10 World Cup finish or better.
More than most, then, Hóbor’s breakaway antics should prime him to make an immediate impact at the next stage of his career.
Andree Buc (CHI)
As with the rest of the men here, Buc generally excelled in his Junior championship races in 2023. He ended the year as the South American Junior champion and the Americas Junior champion, taking the wins in both events in complete control.
At the World Junior Championships, he missed the top-10 as he placed 11th. It says something of his standards that such a decent result does not really feature here.
In addition to his Junior success, there is a lot to like in the way Buc has bulldozed into Senior racing. His high point last year arguably came with his bronze medal at the Americas Cup in Chinchiná. To go with that, he also finished 6th at the Americas Cup in Pucón. Buc also has one of the best World Cup results of any rising Junior man. Last year he finished 29th before a home crowd in Vina del Mar.
The last eighteen months or so have thus been particularly successful for Buc and he should be able to ruffle a few feathers this season.
Thomas Hansmaennel (FRA)
With Hansmaennel, we will drop a slight caveat before we begin. The names that have come before have either already medalled at the Senior level or at least shown that they have a distinct advantage (such as Hóbor’s swimming) that renders success in the near-future likely or at least possible. Hansmaennel does not quite fit the same pattern.
A 38th place at the European Cup in Ceuta stands as his only international Senior result to date. He therefore does not have the Senior track record of the others. Nor, for that matter, does he possess Hóbor’s swimming speed.
Nevertheless, it simply feels wrong to overlook Hansmaennel. To judge his prospects on the back of one Senior outing is tad unfair and it feels like a matter of time before he breaks through as he has been a commanding presence at the Junior level.
He was the World Junior champion in 2022 and finished 4th at the event in 2023. Furthermore, he claimed impressive victories at the European Junior Cups in Quarteira and Wels last year.
No one can win all the time, such is sport. The nature of Junior racing is also such that events can be rather unpredictable. Despite that, Hansmaennel has been a Junior force for a couple of years and such has been his level it feels like more of a surprise when he does not win than when he does.
He has also had the number of all of his Junior rivals at one point or another. Last year alone, he charged down a Hóbor breakaway en route to the win in Wels. He was too strong for Joao Nuno Batista, the World Junior champion, in the final straight in Quarteira. And he was too quick for Nils Serre Gehri, the World Junior silver medallist, as he claimed the French Junior title. No one wins all the time but Hansmaennel has beaten everyone available at some point or another.
Then there is the point of his nationality. While it has not been counted as a point in his favour, it is also the case that, as Hansmaennel enters the U23 and then Senior levels, he will be going through a French system that knows how to create world champions. Four of the last five men’s Senior world titles have been won by French athletes. It would therefore be no surprise to see him rise to the Senior challenge.
Hansmaennel’s results show that he is a talent. Given the right support, he could mature into a very special one indeed.
