Alongside the Senior and U23 racing, the European Junior Championships will be held in Balikesir. As is the case the with their elder counterparts, the Juniors will take on the semi-final/final format over the Super Sprint distance.
With a different distance involved, there could be a slight shift in favourites from the World Junior Championships.
Who’s there
A formidable French team will fly to Turkey. Thomas Hansmaennel will be at the head of the men’s squad with Gaspard Tharreau, Nils Serre Gehri and Pablo Isotton for company.
With wins at European Junior Cups over the Super Sprint distance, Pelayo González Turrez of Spain and Euan De Nigro of Italy will likely be among the main challengers to the French.
González will be joined by Jesús Vela Vela and José Ramón Jímenez Blazquez. The Italian team, meanwhile, will also consist of Miguel Espuna Larramona, Fiorenzo Angelini and Pietro Giovannini. The latter impressed at the Italian Championships (over the Olympic distance) and was in contention for a medal for much of the 10km before being denied late on.
Henning Scholl and Jan Pluta will be part of Germany’s team in Balikesir, doubling up with their starts at the World Junior Championships. Tim Semmler is the third German man on the start list however there is no place for his twin brother, Jan.
A British trio of Struan Bennet, Oliver Conway and Michael Gar will look to make their mark in Turkey. Unlike several other countries, Britain will have a wholesale change in its men’s line up between the World and European Junior Championships.
João Nuno Batista will start alongside Gustavo Do Santo and Gabriel Santos for Portugal.
Another name to keep an eye on will be Alexander Bozhilov. The Bulgarian athlete won a bronze medal over the Super Sprint distance at the European Junior Cup in Izvorani so could figure at the front of the race.
Turning to the women’s field, France and Belgium will be sending the same trios to Balikesir as they will to Hamburg.
For the former, Ilona Hadhoum, Manon Laporte and Leonie Douche will be starting. The representatives of the latter will be Hasse Fleerackers, Lotte Minnebo and Eline Debecker.
On the British team, Bethany Cook and Isla Hedley will get another shot at a medal at a major championship while Antonia Jubb will make the first international start of her career.
Both Germany and Italy will be sending four women to Balikesir. As with the French and Italian men’s teams, an additional fourth slot was made available to the countries of last year’s medallists.
Marielle Bouchti, Kjara Reckmann, Johana Uherek and Felipa Herrmann will be the ones to take Germany’s places.
Alice Alessandri, Adelaide Anna Badini Confalonieri, Rachele Lavagno and Sara Crociani will start for Italy. Crociani is notably the younger sister of the WTCS athlete, Alessio Crociani.
On the note of Juniors following the footsteps of elder siblings, Sonja De Koning will be racing for the Netherlands. A bronze medallist at the recent European Junior Cup in Holten, De Koning is the younger sister of Barbara De Koning who swept through a series of African Cup wins earlier this year.
Aniek Mars will also be on the team for the Netherlands and should not be overlooked. She won the silver medal in Holten ahead of De Koning.
Luxembourg will be represented by Gwen Nothum and Linda Krombach. Being born in 2006 and 2007, respectively, Nothum and Krombach will be among the youngest athletes starting.
Among the contenders for a medal will be Maria Gonçalves of Portugal, Margareta Vrablova of Slovakia and Alejandra Seguí Soria of Spain.
Main talking points
Handling the World-Euro double
Th European Junior Championships will take place only three weeks after the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. Some athletes will come away from Hamburg elated with their performance while others will leave disappointed. Such is the way of elite sport.
The challenge will be to balance recovering from Hamburg (both physically and emotionally), carrying fitness through to Balikesir and then re-introducing an element of taper and rest to maximise performance. It will therefore be a fine tight-rope to walk.
For those not racing in Hamburg, they will be able to focus purely on the European Championships and could arrive in a fresher state.
With physical, emotional and mental aspects at play, then, how the athletes handle the turnaround will likely determine their result in Balikesir.
Returning medallists
Last year’s silver medallist, Euan De Nigro will look to go one better this year. De Nigro won the European Junior Cup in Caorle back in May and so has already proven himself over both the Super Sprint distance and the multi-round format.
With a ferocious finishing kick in his arsenal, he will be hard to bet against.
In addition, Gaspard Tharreau, last year’s bronze medallist, will be back for more. Tharreau was the top male performer at the French Junior tests back in March. Since then, however, his season has not quite clicked into top gear. A DNF at the European Junior Cup in Caorle seemed to sum up his misfortune. In what was a vital race for World Junior qualification, his bike let him down.
Nevertheless, having been in the medals last year, Tharreau should be in the mix again this year.
His teammate, Isotton, finished 8th last year while Angelini of Italy returns after finishing 9th in 2022.
On the women’s side, Hadhoum is in the same boat as De Nigro. Having won the silver medal last year, she will look to convert that to gold this time.
Hadhoum is the only returning medallist on the women’s side, although her compatriot, Laporte, finished 6th. Cook of Britain also took 7th place last year and is the only other returning athlete from the top-10 in 2022.
The last (Junior) dance
For a lot of athletes, Balikesir will represent their final major championships at the Junior level. This group includes the likes of Hadhoum, Seguí, Fleerackers, Cook and Herrmann on the women’s side. Among the men, it includes Hansmaennel, Isotton, Tharreau, González and De Nigro.
The event will therefore mark the last opportunity to add a medal at an international Junior (triathlon) championships before they move on to the U23 ranks. Each will look to go out with a bang, as will a number of others that age up at the end of this year.
In the bigger picture, some could go on to fight for Olympic medals and world titles, some could go on to become fixtures in the WTCS and some could leave the sport entirely to pursue something else.
The next chapter will only be clear once this one has finished. Regardless of what comes next and the pressures of performing, there is something to be said for enjoying this final step, this last dance as a Junior.
You can view the full start lists here.
