Reckmann and Krumbeck Win German Junior Tests

On the same weekend Britain’s leading Junior triathletes were put through their paces, Germany’s top young talents were likewise tested at the DTU Junior Cup in Halle (Saale).

The German model mostly matched the British approach in terms of layout. An 800m swim kicked things off on the Saturday (although the German test was long course while the British test was short course). The test then concluded on the Sunday with a bike-run of 21km and 5km. The cycling component was run in a time trial format with the athletes starting at 20 second intervals. Drafting was not permitted, in contrast to the British test.

Swims

Junior Men

Junior Women

Unlike the men’s event, the Junior women and Youth A women event was combined. WJA therefore refers to the Youth athletes and Juniorinnen to the Juniors.

A focus for 2024

Ahead of the DTU Junior Cup, a large emphasis had been made in German circles upon the swim. This was a conscious decision by the federation and stemmed from what they considered an underperformance at the Junior level 2023. This included a disappointing showing the at the home World Junior Championships in Hamburg in which they struggled to qualify men in particular.

At the same time, the consideration of the season as a underperformance was a little bit harsh given Johanna Uherek finished 4th in Hamburg.

Either way, the German federation identified that the swim was a major blocking point for the success of its Junior athletes. As a result, those hoping for international selection in 2024 had to achieve specific swimming standards. For the Junior women, they had to complete the 800m (50m) in 10:20. For the Junior men, the standard stood at 9:40.

Across the DTU Junior Cup, thirteen women and eleven men hit the standard. After the test, the national youth coach Frank Heimerdinger noted, “24 athletes met this standard which shows that we drew the right conclusions from the international low point in 2023 and that the athletes and their coaches have implemented this very well.”

Bike-run

Junior Men

After leading the swim, Bruno Krumbeck would go on to take a dominant victory at the DTU Junior Cup. Splits of 33:40 on the bike and 15:54 on the run handed him the win by almost 45 seconds.

Luis Rühl claimed 2nd place after logging splits of 33:26 and 16:33, respectively. No one would match Rühl’s field-leading bike split. Jonas Wechsler then rounded out the podium some 40 seconds later having clocked 33:41 and 16:40 in the latter two disciplines. Wechsler was also the only other man to ride under 33 minutes for the bike.

Constantin Johannsen and Manuel Lessing took the final slots in the top-5. Lessing notably clocked 15:55 for the 5km to almost match Krumbeck’s effort while the fastest run of the day went to Kjell Arved Brandt, who ripped a time of 15:33 5km to take 8th overall.

Junior Women

Kjara Reckmann overturned a significant deficit from the swim to win the women’s test. Having clocked 10:15 in the water, Reckmann relied upon a field-leading bike split of 37:53 to turn around her fortunes. From there, a 19:04 run split was enough to seal the win by 18 seconds.

Marielle Bouchti followed in 2nd place. A 38:43 bike split saw her conceded 50 seconds to Reckmann in the second discipline. However, a run split of 18:29 nearly turned the race back in Bouchti’s favour.

As it happened, Bouchti did not end the test with the fastest 5km time. That honour went to Lilly-Marie Overberg. Overberg had clocked 10:40 for the swim and 38:35 on the bike, however an 18:23 5km saw her shoot through to take 3rd place. Overberg’s performance also ensured the final spot on the podium had a dramatic finale as she managed to take the medal by 2.6 seconds.

Sarah Walter, who logged the second best bike split in 38:23, and Lena Wichmann completed the top-5.

You can view the full results here.