Expectations were high for an accomplished German team to deliver before a home crowd at the World U23/Junior Mixed Team Relay Championships.
Their intent was clear for Germany was one of several teams to pack their relay exclusively with U23 athletes in their quest for the gold. As Juniors are technically under the age of 23, perhaps the event was more aptly described as a case of U23 and very U23 athletes.
Australia, Japan and USA were the only teams to completely consist of Juniors while several countries, such as France and Italy, joined Germany in putting a full team of U23 athletes. As a result, none of France’s three medallists (Ilona Hadhoum, Manon Laporte and Nils Serre Gehri) from the World Junior Championships started.
At the same time, two medallists from last year’s World U23 Championships, Gergely Kiss and Hamish Reilly, lined up to tackle the opening leg.
Once again, Brock Hoel was a machine in the water. The Canadian had led the way in both his heat and repechage in Hamburg. The relay proved no different. He exited the water in first place with Alessio Crociani and Carter Stuhlmacher on his tail.
Although the young American, Stuhlmacher, pushed hard, he could not get onto the wheel of Hoel or Crociani and slipped in to the chase pack. Instead, Dylan McCullough pushed on alone and caught the lead pair.
While Henry Graf of Germany headed up the chase pack, the front group worked well together and struck out onto the run with a solid lead. Graf, Bradley Course and Baptiste Passemard managed to separate themselves from the chasers on the run. Yet the leaders remained out of reach.
Crociani had the best split of the front three and handed over for Myral Greco to dive in first of the women.
Following a fast swim, Greco led out of the water and then forced her counterparts from Canada and New Zealand to chase on the bike. It took a major effort on the first of the three bike laps but Brea Roderick was able to make it to Greco’s wheel. Sidney Clement, still only a Junior, was not able to ride with her U23 rivals and dropped back into the chase group.
After Graf had handed her a slight advantage, Julia Bröcker rode past Clement and tried to make it to the leaders. Her efforts were not enough to catch Roderick and Greco, though, and she remained 32 seconds behind into T2.
Roderick was excellent on the run and moved away from Greco. Only a week prior, she had claimed a maiden international win at the African Cup in Larache and her good form was on full display. By the time she handed over to Saxon Morgan, Roderick had cultivated a 36 second lead.
Bröcker managed to pass Greco on the run. Shortly after, Anouk Sterkers, Tilly Anema and Márta Kropkó also passed the Italian.
Forced to race alone, Morgan pulled out an impressive effort to defend the New Zealand advantage. By the end of the swim, the gap stood at 30 seconds as a pack of six closed in.
As Morgan pushed the watts on the bike, he could take some comfort as the chase fragmented. Briac Tence, Eric Diener and Nicolo Strada separated themselves from the other three chasers and slowly began to find a rhythm. Before the end of the bike, Tence fell off the pace and a massive turn from Strada consigned him to completing the course in isolation.
Although Morgan arrived in T2, with a 14 second gap, it was down to 10 seconds halfway through the run. By the end, Strada and Diener had practically caught him.
In a race between three teams, Morgan handed over to Hannah Knighton. Strada then tagged Costanza Arpinelli 3 seconds later while Diener passed on the invisble baton to Tanja Neubert another 2 seconds later.
Like Roderick, Arpinelli had recently made her WTCS debut in Montreal and had delivered with a 31st place after an encouraging start to her year. Neubert, meanwhile, had finished 4th at the European Championships and had an African Cup win to her name.
The Italian and the German therefore caught Knighton and the trio jumped onto the bike together.
Throughout the bike, there was little to separate them and each took their turn. Candice Denizot of France rode like a woman on a mission behind but the leaders were too coordinated and she arrived in T2 a minute behind.
Having run past her bike in T1, Arpinelli was much smoother in T2 and shot out onto the run with Neubert. Knighton fought valiantly but did not have the speed to match her rivals.
Before long, Neubert had moved ahead. From there, with the cheers and applause of the German fans lining the street, there would only ever be one outcome. Continuing her fantastic season, Neubert crossed the line in 1st place to seal a home gold.
Arpinelli crossed 8 seconds later to claim the silver for Italy while Knighton hung on to take a well-earned bronze for a New Zealand team that had spent so much time at the front of the race.
You can view the full results here.
