Statistically, if you are a younger sibling in a family, you are more likely to become an elite athlete than your older sibling. As a rule of thumb, younger siblings have a training partner that is generally a step further along the developmental path. That gives them experience of playing with, living with and training with someone that is simply better than them, having been born earlier. Over time, the younger athlete can catch the older sibling an often surpass them, although not always.
Several studies have pointed to the advantages the younger sibling receives. It must also be said, though, the older sibling can also benefit from having a fellow elite athlete under the same roof.
When we look at the world of elite triathlon, one thing that stands out is the number of elite athlete siblings.
From a purely triathlon sense, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee are perhaps the most famous. Between them, they have world titles, Olympic medals and more WTCS hardware than you can shake a stick at.
Similarly, Dmitry and Igor Polyanskiy were fixtures on the WTCS circuit for years.
On a more contemporary note, the Holm siblings, Emil and Anne, are active family members on the WTCS circuit. Most recently, Emil Holm won an African Cup in his last race of 2022. Anne Holm also finished 8th at the Miyazaki World Cup in 2022.
Another brother-sister combination in the triathlon world hails from the Coninx family. Dorian and Lea Coninx have both raced in the WTCS, with Dorian winning two races (Bermuda 2019 and Montreal 2021). In 2022, Lea finished 8th at the Pontevedra World Cup and 4th at the Miyazaki World Cup.
A good example of two elite sisters in triathlon are the Hedgelands. Both Jaz and Kira Hedgeland have made their WTCS debuts in the recent seasons and both have made strides forward and are in with a shout of making the Australian Olympic team in 2024. In 2022 Jaz had WTCS top-20 finishes at both Montreal and Cagliari, while Kira had a top-20 finish at WTCS Bermuda.
Looking into the younger ranks of athletes coming through, the Henseleits are another sibling combination. Older brother Simon and younger sister Franca combined in the Mixed Team Relay at the 2019 European Junior Championships to win gold for Germany. Simon Henseleit has since gone on to make his WTCS debut, finishing 24th in Hamburg in 2021, while Franca Henseleit is a former German Junior champion currently studying in the US. She finished 8th at German Championships in 2022.
The Lehmann brothers are another talented set of siblings from Hungary. Younger brother Csongor Lehmann was World U23 champion in 2021. His older brother Bence Lehmann has raced a couple of World Cups. His most recent international triathlon saw him finish 22nd at the European Cup in Tiszaujvaros.
Despite having only been born in 2005, Sara Crociani of Italy already has two European Junior Cup medals to her name. She will still be eligible to race as a Junior in 2023 and 2024 and has displayed a lot of promise so far. Her older brother, Alessio Crociani, is likewise a name to watch. Born in 2001, Alessio won his first World Cup medal in Tongyeong in 2021. In 2022, he added two further World Cup top-10s plus the Italian Championships title to his name.
Moreover, there are instances of top-level triathletes having siblings that are elite in other sports.
By now, we all know the triathlon credentials of Cassandre Beaugrand. The winner of WTCS Leeds in 2022, she logged one of the fastest ever Olympic distance run splits at WTCS Cagliari. Her swimming, though, is one of her more unheralded strengths. She is routinely near the front of the swim and at Leeds last year she was actually the fastest swimmer in the field.
Cassandre’s brother, Paul Beaugrand, is no slouch in the pool himself. He is a swimmer, specialising in distance freestyle, and raced at the European Junior Championships in 2018. Over the 1500m, he has a long course (50m) personal best of 15:12.32 and a short course (25m) best of 14:49.00.
In addition, Vasco Vilaca is a great triathlete with an elite athlete sibling. Vasco won the silver medal at the single day World Championships in Hamburg in 2020, confirming his status as a future star of the sport. Meanwhile, his sister Vera started as a triathlete but his since moved into professional road cycling. She currently rides for Massi-Tactic UCI Women’s Team and came 13th at the Mediterranean Games road race in 2022.
This is obviously a small sample of athletes and there are plenty of instances of single child athletes or athletes without athletic siblings that rise to elite status. It does seem that in triathlon, though, there is a degree of benefit to having a sibling actively participate in the sport too. Given the time-intensive nature of the sport, this may be a simple consequence of parents wanting to manage how many activities they have to coordinate for their children.
The Brownlees have often spoken of the benefit of having a role model under the same roof, particularly with regards to pushing one another forwards.
Maybe there is a benefit to a sibling training partner, maybe there isn’t. Sometimes, the best thing to do is simply sit back and admire the talent and dedication before us.
