The first Continental Junior titles of 2024 will be on the line in Napier this weekend. Taking place alongside the World Cup and Mixed Team Relay event, Oceania’s fastest young athlete will gather to contest the Oceania Junior Championships.
Two of the names to watch come from the home New Zealand team. Both Finnley Oliver and Benjamin Airey will be among the favourites for the win after racing at the World Junior Championships in Hamburg last year. Oliver finished 46th while Airey placed 23rd in Germany.
As the defending Oceania Junior champion Bradley Course has aged up, Oliver and Airey will fancy their chances. However, that is not to say that they will have a clear run at the gold.
Mitchell Blackbourn will head up the Australian men’s team and is the only returning member of the Australian quartet that raced at last year’s World Junior Championships. After his compatriot took Oceania gold last season, Blackbourn will look to bring home the title. His finish of 25th in Hamburg last year was certainly a promising result from which to build and he will likely push Oliver and Airey all the way to the line.
Furthermore, Jack Latham will be racing after winning the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games last year. Jett Lee Curteis, the Pacific Islands champion, will be another name to track. Curteis will be shifting his sporting nationality to New Zealand at the end of the season and as such will have the opportunity to impress his future selectors.
In the women’s race, the defending champion, Hannah Prosser, does not return. Instead, the home team will be led by Lucy Evans, Isabelle Bannister and Lulu Johnson. The trio finished 8th, 9th and 10th, respectively, at the Oceania Junior Championships in 2023. With experience under their belts, they could lock out the podium this weekend if everything goes to plan.
The Australian team, which will be headed up by Alexandra Field and Aspen Anderson, will be favoured to claim at least one medal, though.
Field placed 49th at the World Junior Championships last season and will be favoured to do well in Napier. Like Evans, Bannister and Johnson, she is entering her final season as a Junior triathlete and will look to add a Continental title before she ages up.
Meanwhile, Anderson claimed Commonwealth Youth Games gold last summer. Having raced at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in 2023, Anderson’s running speed should not be underestimated.
