More Junior action took place at the weekend with the European Junior Cup in Panevėžys, Lithuania.
A handful of athletes even arrived having raced only days earlier at the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. Fortunately, only a Super Sprint race was on offer in Panevėžys, with the athletes racing over a 350m swim, 10km bike and a 2.5km run.
Still, with several contenders lurking for the gold in both races, the brevity of the event did not reduce its intensity.
Women’s race
Two young Latvian athletes took control of the swim and established a solid lead into T1.
Beate Jansone was the first out of the water in a time of 4:53 while her teammate Beāte Bula followed 3 seconds later. Emily Crookes of Britain headed up the chase in a time of 5:01 and made short work of riding up to her Latvian rivals.
A little further down the standings, Ugen Pauryte emerged to the local cheers. Pauryte had arrived after representing Lithuania in Hamburg but did not quite get her race going in the water. Iva Pavlovic and Grete Maria Savitsch were also taking part after competing in Hamburg and had better swims.
Although she pushed hard, Pauryte could not make it to the front pack.
However, Pavlovic and Savitsch were able to and they rode up to Crookes, Jansone and Bula. Crookes’ teammate, Mollie Thomas, also dropped a huge bike split to make the front. Her time of 15:43 was best of field by 6 seconds.
During the 10km, over half of the field (fourteen women) made it into the lead pack. As they pushed the pace, they shut the door on any comeback for Pauryte. The Estonian trio of Savitsch, Liis Kapten and Etriin Etverk were prominent throughout. Yet their efforts seemed to cost them early in the run.
Kapten managed to react the quickest as Crookes, Luna Sraka and Jansone pulled away but still could not quite stay with the leaders.
The race therefore came down to a late battle between three athletes. With the finish line coming into view, Crookes launched a powerful sprint to break clear. Jansone could not react but Sraka looked like she would hold on. The Slovenian fought to close the gap to Crookes but ran out of space.
The Briton therefore ran to her first international victory while Sraka settled for silver.
Jansone, the youngest starter having been born in 2008, then rounded out the podium in 3rd place.
Men’s race
Fresh off their breakaway antics at the World Junior Championships, Gregor Rasva and Márton Kropkó were back at it again. Kropkó had also raced the European Junior Cup in Tiszaujvaros a week prior, making for a truly hectic schedule.
Despite his extra racing, Kropkó seemed the fresher of the two and zoomed into the lead in the water. By the time he completed the 350m swim, the Hungarian held a substantial advantage of 15 seconds. Rasva clocked 4:11 against Kropkó’s 3:55 while Filip Vilenica of Croatia separated the two with his split of 4:10.
Early on in the bike, Vilenica was joined by his compatriots, Marin Stipčević and Gabriel Barac.
After a massive effort, Robin Randoja overcame a deficit of over 15 seconds to also ride into the chase pack and join his teammate Rasva. The pack of five turned their attention to Kropkó and soon managed to catch him. Once he realised his solo move was not going to stick, the Hungarian athlete smartly let his rivals reach him and saved his legs.
After their efforts in Hamburg, it would have been easy for Kropkó and Rasva for relax on the bike, but they kept the pace going to ensure the front six stayed clear. By the time they arrived into T2, the leaders had a healthy gap of over 30 seconds.
All that remained was to determine who would make it onto the podium.
Spent after his efforts on the bike, Randoja was the first to fall behind. Vilenica and Stipčević then lost touch with the front too, leaving Rasva, Barac and Kropkó to fight out the gold.
Kropkó tried to push clear but, after all of his racing, the final burst of speed was not quite there.
Instead it was Barac that was able to kick away from his rivals. On the back of the fastest split of the field (7:50), the Croatian powered to his first international win. With the European Junior Championships looming in August, it was a perfectly-timed confidence boost.
Behind Barac, neither Rasva nor Kropkó were willing to give up on the silver and they hared to the finish line together. In a manic sprint finish, they crossed at the same time. A photo finish gave the silver medal to Rasva and Kropkó left with the bronze medal.
After four races in nine days, a well-earned rest may be overdue for the young Hungarian.
You can view the full results here.
