After the drama of the heats on Friday, thirty athletes remained in the finals of the European Junior Cup in Caorle. With a Super Sprint triathlon ahead, there were a few nervous faces on the start line. The shorter format promised to push some already-tired bodies to their max.
More importantly, the race ahead would determine whether many of the field would get to race at the World Junior Championships with slots to be determined and some national federations relying on the race as a selection event.
In what was one of the most consequential Junior races of the year so far, the pressure was ramped up high.
Women’s race
The swim was a full-on sprint as the women attacked the 300m. Kjara Reckmann and Ilona Hadhoum seemed to get the best starts but it was Manon Laporte that took over the lead. Alongside Laporte was the young Hungarian, Fanni Szalai. In the fastest women’s swim of the weekend, Laporte and Szalai dropped splits of 4:21 to lead the way into T1.
Reckmann and Hadhoum were right with them, as were Millie Breese and Eve Whitaker. Despite the speed of the swim, much of the field remained together on the bike.
Several of the early favourites, including Margareta Vrablova and Hasse Fleerackers were therefore in the mix.
With races already in their legs from the heats and a short but hard run to follow, there were not many moves over the 9.5km bike. Breese, Hadhoum and Laporte were prominent around the front but no one seemed willing to risk their legs on an attack. As the first and then second bike laps ticked away, the field was awash with small glances to the left and right and checks for any clues into how their rivals felt.
With a very short run into T2, you could almost blink and miss transition. Beate Jansone and Felipa Herrmann were quick through. As the run began, it was anyone’s race.
Szalai jumped to the front but a pack of five other women were on her tail. Among them were Breese, Whitaker, Hadhoum, Vrabloba, Laporte and Léonie Douche. Each took turns at hunting Szalai down but the Hungarian was in full flow.
Like a bloodhound pursuing a scent, Szalai was relentless.
As the first kilometre ticked by, Vrablova, the winner of the European Junior Cups in Melilla and Quarteira, began to lose touch. Hadhoum and Laporte pulled ahead of Whitaker and Douche as they charged after Szalai. And yet they could not bring her back.
With the finish line in sight, a broad smile grew across Szalai’s face. After a wonderful weekend, she took the win at her European Junior Cup debut. To put into context how young she is, she will still be eligible for the future version of this race in 2027… Her speed at such a young age is quite astonishing.
Laoprte managed to get the better of Hadhoum in the last few hundred metres to win the silver medal. Hadhoum took bronze while Douche made it three French women in the top-4. Whitaker took 5th.
Men’s race
As he did in the heats, Zalán Hóbor went full bore on the swim and built a small lead over the field into T1. Jesús Vela Vela was the only man within 5 seconds of him although a large group of men were close behind.
When Hóbor tried to push the pace on the opening kilometre of the bike, he therefore did so with a dozen men snapping at his heels.
Pelayo González Turrez and Hector Tolsa Garcia joined their Spanish team mate Vela at the front. The likes of Tom Hattee, Lawrence Martindale and Euan De Nigro also made the front pack in relative comfort.
In a surprising turn, Andreas Nikolajsen, the winner of the fourth heat, and Thomas Hansmaennel did not make it into the front pack and could only watch as the race unfolded ahead of them. Perhaps of greater surprise was that Hansmaennel’s team mate, Nils Serre Gehri, was able to bridge to the front pack after emerging from the water behind.
Serre Gehri was one of the slowest swimmers in the final, losing 19 seconds to Hóbor. However he was outstanding on the bike and made his way into the front pack. A group of twelve men ultimately formed at the head of the race.
Hóbor tried to up the ante out of T2 as González also made an early push. Yet it was Pablo Isotton of France that initially looked the smoothest. González, though, soon fell behind as Serre Gehri took up the task of setting the pace. Along with De Nigro and Tolsa, Isotton, Serre Gehri and Hóbor started to pull away from the remnants of the lead pack.
Pain slowly etched across Tolsa’s and Hóbor’s faces as they ran at their limit. One man, though, had another gear.
In the closing stages, De Nigro launched a massive attack and broke clear. Last year’s European Junior Championships silver medallist, he charged into the finishing straight as if he gained speed with every metre he drew closer to the finish. With a home crowd urging him on, he punched his way over the finish line.
Only Serre Gehri was able to respond to De Nigro but even then he had no answer. De Nigro’s finish was simply too overpowering. For Serre Gehri, though, 2nd represented a second straight European Junior Cup silver medal after his exploits in Quarteira.
Isotton held on for bronze in a sprint finish with Tolsa. Hóbor rounded out the top-5.
View the full results here.
