Chisinau, Moldova, played host to the latest European Junior Cup of the summer. In the heat, with temperatures nudging 30 degrees (Celsius), the athletes took on the Super Sprint format.
A 400m non-wetsuit swim kicked off the race while a 10.2km bike and a 2.5km run completed proceedings. Over such short distances, there was not a moment of respite and in both the men’s and women’s races small leads gained proved to be highly significant.
Men’s race
Gregor Rasva led the way in the swim with a brisk time of 5:22. Alexander Bozhilov followed 1 second back while Raul Petre and Carol Popa of the Romanian team were next out. The swim has been a real point of strength for Rasva this summer and things were no different in Chisinau. Alongside Bozhilov, he had earned a small gap.
He did not need a second invitation to exploit it.
Rasva and Bozhilov pushed the opening half of the bike and stretched their lead to 15 seconds. Gabriel Barac, the winner of European Junior Cup in Panevėžys, lurked in the chase with Popa and Petre. Youhan Guillou and Nathan Texereau of France were also present in the chase group.
The lead pair could not be caught, though, and defended their advantage into T2.
If their efforts on the bike had sapped them, the did not show it. They were fast through transition and settled into a high tempo on the run. Even as the chasers exited T2, they could not match the pace set up the road.
Rasva pulled away in the final stages as he logged the fastest split of the day in 7:34. He therefore crossed the line first to claim his first international win.
For his part, Bozhilov produced a split of 7:41 to secure the silver medal. Barac ran ahead of his fellow chasers to 3rd place on the back of the third fastest run of the day (7:52).
Women’s race
Even for a European Junior Cup, the leaders out of the water were very young.
Dana Soroka and Beate Jansone were both born in 2008 and blasted into the lead with splits of 6:14 and 6:17, respectively. Amalia Maria Singuran and Mirtel-Madlen Siimar followed; they, too, were on the younger half of the field having been born in 2007.
Liis Kapten managed to quickly ride up to Soroka and Jansone after a strong swim to create a lead pack of five. Luna Sraka likewise moved herself into contention.
A couple of athletes, such as Iva Pavlovic, fell just behind the lead group having been in a promising position out of T1. The gap between the leaders and the chase hovered between the 10 and 15 second mark and at times looked as if it would be closed.
Several big turns from Kapten kept the lead alive, though. Over the 10.2km, the lead pack worked well to maintain their advantage and, although, Yeva Soroka reduced the lead back to 10 seconds, it fell no further.
The leaders then had identical T2 times of 28 seconds and made their way onto the run. If there had been nothing to separate the leaders in transition, the early stages of the run proved more significant.
Kapten and Jansone surged into an early lead. Further back, Yeva Soroka passed Dana Soroka, Singuran and Siimar, and battled with Sraka. Singuran seemed to hold on but then slipped behind.
Kapten and Jansone could not be caught and decided the gold medal between themselves. With a kick that Jansone could not answer, Kapten left her rival to claim the win by 8 seconds.
Jansone ended up in 2nd place while Yea Soroka came through in 3rd.
You can view the full results here.
