Final Chance For German Juniors To Earn 2023 Champs Places

Benjamin Eastman

This weekend will see Germany’s top Junior triathletes compete for the final slots for this year’s World and European Junior Championships. The DTU Youth Cup in Jena (Thuringia) will double as a last-chance saloon for many of the country’s brightest young talents. Following the results of the European Junior Cup in Caorle, the German Junior women have qualified three slots for the World Junior Championships, the allocation of which was determined by the outcome of the racing in Italy. Felipa Herrmann, Kjara Reckmann and Marielle Bouchti sealed their places in…

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Central Asian Champs and Four Other Races To Track

Benjamin Eastman

Central Asian Champs Samarkand The racing in Uzbekistan will double as an Asia Cup, allowing for a number of additional athletes to contest the Olympic distance event. The big talking point will be the battle between Ayan Beisenbayev of Kazakhstan and Jason Tai Long Ng of Hong Kong. At this moment in time, the pair are the front-runners to take the sole available New Flag slot for Asia at the Paris Olympics. Beisenbayev currently has the lead in the race but a big showing in Samarkand would help Ng close…

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What Would Be The Coolest Next Location For Elite Triathlon?

Benjamin Eastman

In light of the recent news of the World Cup race in Rome being added to the 2023 calendar, we thought we would ask a question. What are some of the most exotic locations in which World Triathlon could hold a WTCS or World Cup race that have never previously hosted an event? Under the umbrella of previously hosted, we will include any and all World Triathlon events since the inception of the organisation. That rules out Ibiza after it hosted this year’s World Multisport Championships. Likewise Paris would not…

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First Look at the Tiszaujvaros World Cup 2023 Start Lists

Benjamin Eastman

The Tiszaujvaros World Cup is an institution of the elite triathlon calendar and next month it makes its long-awaited return to the circuit. For the past two years, the event has been held as a European Cup. This year, though, it will be a full World Cup with a strong start list. Tiszaujvaros is a real hotbed of triathlon in Hungary. With a European Junior Cup running concurrently, it is almost impossible to escape the sport during TriWeek. It also happens to be one of the final refuges of the…

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World Triathlon Tweaks 2023 World Cup Calendar

Benjamin Eastman

Triathlon is coming to the Eternal City. For the first time, Rome will be hosting an international triathlon. The news arrives as a result of Arzachena dropping out as a World Cup host on 7th October. In its place, Rome will be stepping up to assume the mantle of hosts. After three iterations of the Arzachena event (between 2020 and 2022), it is currently unclear if the town will host a World Cup again in the coming years. The course had proven particularly challenging with a tough climb on the…

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Interview: Csongor Lehmann and Mixing it With the Big Boys

Benjamin Eastman

Do nice guys finish last? That is the question that springs to mind when it comes to Csongor Lehmann. Every answer he gives is unfailingly polite. It’s one of the first things that stands out about him in conversation. Even when asked about the last minute shift to a duathlon at the recent European Championships, he was equanimous. “I was not happy with the decision,” he said, “but we couldn’t really do anything about it. We just had to accept it and make the best of the situation.” Having become…

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A Proposal to Solve Triathlon’s Water Quality Conundrum

Benjamin Eastman

How different is a triathlon to a duathlon? Ostensibly, at least, the only thing that changes is the first discipline. Switch out the swim for another run and leave the last two disciplines intact; it’s close enough. The swimmers in the field are the ones penalised the most by such a change. Yet that does not mean that the faster runners are necessarily the ones to benefit. After all, adding an extra run creates a different challenge. At the European Championships in Madrid, the switch of the 1500m swim to…

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Madrid European Champs Cause Changes To Rankings

Benjamin Eastman

The outcome of the European Championships in Madrid has resulted in several notable shifts in both the WTCS rankings and the Olympic qualification rankings. Based on an overly strict interpretation of the World Triathlon ranking criteria, the event probably should not have counted towards either ranking as it was a duathlon. However, as the change was forced at the last minute, the points remain on offer. Crucially, the race was only worth 75% of what it otherwise would have been as a triathlon. Last year, the winner of the European…

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Hansmaennel and Laporte Take French Junior Titles

Benjamin Eastman

The crème de la crème of young French triathlon talent gathered in Gravelines at the weekend to compete for the French Junior Championships. After close-fought races, Manon Laporte and Thomas Hansmaennel came away with the titles. In the women’s race, Laporte and Ilona Hadhoum set the pace in the water. Both should already be on the plane to Hamburg for this year’s World Junior Championships in light of their performances at the European Junior Cup in Caorle. In Gravelines, Hadhoum emerged first in 9:19 with Laporte 1 second back. Charline…

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Who are the Important Stakeholders in Elite Triathlon?

Benjamin Eastman

It’s Monday morning and the dust has settled. Jeanne Lehair and David Castro Fajardo are European champions after brilliant efforts and the world of elite triathlon is ready to move on to the next thing. However, with the events of the European Championships now consigned to history, it is hard not feel the whole thing was a little farcical. Indeed, thinking about how the weekend in Madrid panned out, there is a big question to be asked. Who really matters in elite triathlon? Let’s start with the primary issue in…

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Lehair and Castro Make Most Of Madrid Changes To Take Gold

Benjamin Eastman

At the last minute, the European Championships in Madrid were switched to a duathlon and a 5km run replaced the standard 1500m swim. However the change did little to dampen the performances of the athletes. With the European title on the line, the field put their best feet forwards and the racing saw the coronation of two first-time continental champions. Women’s race Lisa Tertsch made the most of the first 5km run and set the pace in the early stages. Also with her were Jeanne Lehair and Miriam Casillas Garcia…

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Last Minute Change To Euro Champs: It Is Now A Duathlon

Benjamin Eastman

In the last 30 minutes, Europe Triathlon has reversed its stance from last night and confirmed that today’s elite European Championships will be held as a duathlon. After heavy rainfall in the days leading up to the event in Madrid, Saturday’s age-group and Para-triathlon events were switched to the duathlon format. On Saturday evening, Europe Triathlon communicated to the elite athletes that the event on the Sunday would remain a triathlon. However, further rainfall overnight has forced their hand. As a result of the rain, the conditions in the lake…

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How Do British Athletes Make International Start Lists?

Benjamin Eastman

In light of our article about the stringent French criteria to race internationally, we thought we would look at the policies of their historic rivals: Great Britain (just don’t mention Agincourt). Britain shares many of the features of the French selection system but with several crucial differences. To start with, let’s take a look at how athletes start at certain levels. (The full plate of selection policies can be found here.) In order to guide its selection for the WTCS, Britain uses both automatic and discretionary criteria. This itself is…

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Why Don’t France Send Many Athletes To International Races?

Benjamin Eastman

France is a powerhouse in the triathlon world. At every level of the sport, they are flush with talent. From the WTCS all the way to Junior racing, at any given event, there is a good chance that the French team could put forward a medallist. Yet the French colours are often fleetingly seen at the various levels of the sport. For a country with as much depth as France, why do they rarely send a full quota of athletes to events from the WTCS to World Cups to European…

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Alberte Kjær Pedersen Is Ready To Take The Next Step

Benjamin Eastman

It’s no easy thing, knowing when you are on the right path. Life is littered with roads not taken and thoughts of what could have been. In a sense, Alberte Kjær Pedersen has neatly sidestepped that conundrum by tackling two paths at once. Alongside competing as an elite triathlete and establishing herself as a fixture in the WTCS, she is close to finishing her degree in dentistry. Medical backgrounds are hard to come by at the top of the sport – Miriam Casillas stands out as one notable exception that…

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