This weekend the first European Junior Cup of the year will take place in Melilla, Spain. One week later, another European Junior Cup will be held in Quarteira, Portugal.
Quarteira in particular has long been a tried and trusted proving ground of young talent.
Winning the Junior Cup in Quarteira has often been reliable marker for further Junior success in the same season. As an example, in 2019 Beatrice Mallozzi won the race prior to winning both the World and European Junior titles later in the year.
A number of future WTCS medallists have also won the race.
In 2016 Vasco Vilaca and Cassandre Beaugrand earned the wins in Quarteira while in 2015 Lisa Tertsch was the winner of the Junior women’s race. Beaugrand won the race in 2014 too.
Last year Quarteira was won by David Cantero del Campo and Helena Moragas Molina.
Who, then, are the Junior athletes to watch over the next two weekends?
Margareta Vrablova is the outstanding athlete on either start list in Melilla. She has four European Junior Cup wins to her name, as well as two silver medals.
She is a hugely talented runner and will be looking for Junior Cup win number five.
In 2021, she finished 5th at World Junior Championships and 6th at European Junior Championships at the age of 16. A DNF followed at the World Junior Championships last year. However, she is realistically an early-season favourite for this year’s World Junior crown.
Vrablova will be joined by plenty of Spanish talent in Melilla.
Elena Viejo Campos finished 12th at the World Junior Championships in Montreal and has a number of solid results to her name. Similarly, María Barceló Serra will be another Spanish athlete to watch.
For the men, Pelayo González Turrez won a European Junior Cup last year in Izvorani. With two other European Junior Cup medals to his name, González might be the best runner in the men’s field in Melilla.
He will also be joined by Hector Tolsa García who won a silver at the European Youth Festival in Baule last September.
All of the above athletes will also be racing in Quarteira. Again, expect Vrablova to lead the way in Portugal.
However, a number of talented French youngsters will be present in Quarteira.
Alongside Vrablova, the other big name to watch on the women’s side is Ilona Hadhoum. Hadhoum is the defending European Junior silver medallist from last year. More pertinently, she became the fastest ever performer at the French Junior tests at the weekend.
Her showdown with Vrablova could therefore be intense.
The French squad are the closest we can get to being confident in how any athlete will perform given how recent their test weekend was.
Hadhoum has a number of team mates that could also contend for the win. Foremost amongst those is Manon Laporte. While Laporte had a good season last year, what really makes her stand out is that she unleashed the 4th fastest ever French Junior test performance in Cannes. With only Hadhoum and Cassandre Beaugrand ahead of Laporte in French history, she could produce some big results this year.
In addition, Léa Houart is the reigning European Youth champion from Baule. While she is a little young, she still logged the 9th fastest performance of all time at the tests.
Meanwhile, the French men will be headed by Thomas Hansmaennel and Gaspard Tharreau in Quarteira.
Hansmaennel is the reigning World Junior champion and finished 2nd at the French Junior tests. Tharreau beat him that day and is the holder of the 5th fastest French Junior test performance from 2022.
Going by their recent form, it is hard to shake the feeling that Quarteira will boil down to another Tharreau-Hansmaennel clash.
However, it would be unwise to ignore the Brits.
Millie Breese is a big talent and she higlighted her potential by winning bronze at the European Youth Festival in September. Oliver Conway is the pick of the British Junior men in Quarteira on paper. Any of the British cohort could light up the race, though, if they have had a good winter.
On the home front, there are several talented Portuguese athletes scheduled to race in Quarteira.
João Nuno Batista won the European Junior Cup in Holten last year. With the combination of home advantage and a lethal run, he could win in Quarteira. His team mate Gustavo Do Canto will no doubt push him hard throughout.
On the Portuguese women’s side, Matilde Silva Santos won silver at the Yenişehir European Junior Cup last year and has had a solid couple of seasons.
It also must be noted that it is hard to do full justice to Junior fields as it is almost impossible to predict where athletes are on their respective improvement curves. Junior athletes can develop so suddenly that it can render how they did last year completely out of date information.
Similarly, teenagers’ personal bests times can also change so rapidly that not all of the information is relevant, especially when the data points are over six months old. As a result, there is definitely an emphasis on international medals here in the athlete achievements.
Quarteira will also host a couple of National Junior champions from 2022. Sometimes a National Junior title can be an indicator that a young athlete is ready to make a bigger splash at the international level the next year.
Rafaela Cananó Silva was the Portuguese Junior champion last year while Antoine L’hôte holds the Swiss Junior title. Either could translate that to international success this season.
Then there is the question of experience. L’hôte is one of the most experienced athletes for his age in the men’s field. Similarly, in the women’s field, Lena Goller of Italy and Gwen Nothum of Luxembourg are two names that have not yet won European Junior Cup medals but logged a lot of valuable race practice last year.
On balance, it feels like Vrablova, Hadhoum, Hansmaennel and Tharreau will be the main athletes to watch. With so many exciting talents racing, though, a breakout performance could come from anywhere.
