The World Junior Championships silver medallist, Jimena Renata De La Peña Schott, is switching her sporting nationality from Mexico to the United States of America.
De La Peña has had a sensational season as a Junior. In addition to her silver in Hamburg, she won the North American Junior Championships in Sarasota and the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana. To go with that, she has already enjoyed success at the Senior level having finished 12th at the Viña del Mar World Cup at the end of 2022.
A rounded athlete across the board, De La Peña’s primary strength lies in the third discipline at this stage. At the World Junior Championships, she had the second fastest run of the day.
Her decision to switch nationality will be a blow to Mexico.
De La Peña has tremendous potential. Although it may be too early to predict too much, she could be a star in the making. Mexico has plenty of talent coming through, such as WTCS medallist Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal and World Cup winner Anahi Alvarez Corral. Nevertheless, retaining De La Peña would have been a major boost.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s loss is America’s gain.
As typically having one of the deepest talent pools in the sport, America is not necessarily pressed for emerging athletes. Still, it would be hard for any country to pass up the opportunity to add a talent like De La Peña to their ranks.
Of course, De La Peña’s decision is a highly personal one. Far from it being a choice of either federation, it will have come down to her own feelings and career choices. The idiosyncrasies of identity (as well as career paths) are unique to everyone after all.
Being only born in 2006, she will still be a Junior in 2024 and 2025.
In the short-term, De La Peña will wear the World Triathlon colours at international events. Her last day as a Mexican athlete was 4th September 2023 and as of 5th September she commenced her change in representation.
