Some of the best Junior and Youth talent France has to offer in triathlon gathered in Cannes at the weekend for pre-season testing.
As a reminder, the athletes completed a swim of 800m (50m), a run of 5000m on the track and a time trial bike of 3.6km. Their times from each stage are then added together and ranked to give the final results for the tests.
France is currently home to the reigning male world champion, the Mixed Team Relay world champions and the male Junior world champion. As such, the country is enjoying a real wave of success in the sport. It will therefore be looking for the next generation to take over the mantle in the coming years. Based on the results from Cannes, the new generation are looking scarily good.
The Men
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the male tests was that 7 of the top-10 men ran under 15 minutes for the 5km. That is a fairly ridiculous level of depth in the Junior category.
Gaspard Tharreau led the way for the men and recorded the best overall time. In both the swim and the bike, he was the third fastest performer of the day. His margin of victory, though, was narrow as he edged out reigning World Junior champion Thomas Hansmaennel by a mere 1.2 seconds.
Tharreau was last year’s bronze medallist at the European Junior Championships. He also finished 4th at the World Junior Championships in Montreal last year. Due to weather conditions that race was actually a duathlon and, based on Tharreau’s swim at the test, it seems like that would have penalised him. His 800m was consistently split; he was 4:30.2 on the opening 400m and 4:39.5 on the back half.
Hansmaennel, meanwhile, displayed once more what a brilliant runner he is. Moreover, he showed how well-rounded he is becoming by recording strong swim and bike times. However, his time of 14:51.1 over the 5000m was only the 5th fastest time.
Martin Hubner was only born in 2006 yet led the run with an exceptional 14:40.6. Hubner’s swim and bike were not quite at the same level but that makes sense given his age. With another year or two to develop, he will almost certainly close the 20 second gap to the top of the field at the test.
On the note of fastest times, Paul Delamare of Rouen Triathlon was the only man to swim under 9 minutes in the 800m. He recorded a time of 8:56.6.
The men’s tests were also marked by a real concentration of talent at the top as less than 15 seconds separated the top-5. Tharreau and Hansmaennel, though, were the only athletes born in 2004 to make the top-5. They will likely lead the charge for France at the World and European Junior Championships this year. Coming just behind them, the likes of Achille Besson, Nils Serre-Gheri and Adam Fouchal will likely continue to carry the torch of French success in the years after.
| Position | Total Time | Name | Year | 800m | Swim rank | 5000m | Run rank | TT | Bike rank | CLUB |
| 1 | 30:02,0 | Gaspard THARREAU | 2004 | 09:09,7 | 3 | 15:13,1 | 9 | 05:39,2 | 3 | Les Sables Vendée Triathlon |
| 2 | 30:03,2 | Thomas HANSMAENNEL | 2004 | 09:22,9 | 8 | 14:51,1 | 5 | 05:49,1 | 14 | Metz Triathlon |
| 3 | 30:13,5 | Achille BESSON | 2006 | 09:33,3 | 13 | 14:54,7 | 7 | 05:45,5 | 8 | ASPTT 36 SPORT NATURE |
| 4 | 30:14,2 | Nils SERRE-GEHRI | 2005 | 09:51,1 | 22 | 14:41,1 | 2 | 05:42,1 | 5 | Vallée de Montmorency Triathlon |
| 5 | 30:15,1 | Adam FOUCHAL | 2005 | 09:37,2 | 15 | 14:51,4 | 6 | 05:46,5 | 10 | Stade de Reims Triathlon |
| 6 | 30:18,0 | Milan LARIVIERE | 2006 | 09:28,2 | 10 | 15:05,7 | 8 | 05:44,1 | 7 | Ouest Run Triathlon (ORT) |
| 7 | 30:23,3 | Tristan DOUCHÉ | 2006 | 09:45,3 | 19 | 14:48,7 | 4 | 05:49,3 | 15 | Metz triathlon |
| 8 | 30:26,1 | Martin HUBNER | 2006 | 09:40,2 | 17 | 14:40,6 | 1 | 06:05,3 | 22 | Alliance Natation Besançon |
| 9 | 30:29,8 | Nathan SIMIONATO | 2004 | 09:49,4 | 21 | 14:45,2 | 3 | 05:55,1 | 18 | Metz Triathlon |
| 10 | 30:33,3 | Pablo ISOTTON | 2004 | 09:03,3 | 2 | 15:48,3 | 17 | 05:41,7 | 4 | Triathl’aix |
The Women
Ilona Hadhoum was the star of the women’s test.
Having previously noted how strong a swimmer she is, it was no surprise to see her record the best swim by a significant margin. What was a tad more unexpected was how dominant she was on the run.
Her 5000m of 16:48.1 would not look out of place at many elite Junior athletics competitions. For reference, 2021 World Junior champion Jule Behrens ran 16:47.2 in the 5000m at the European Junior Championships in 2021. That came in the same year that Behrens won the World Junior title in triathlon. Behrens had technically been quicker in 2021 (her best was 16:32.7). Nevertheless, it goes to highlight how well Hadhoum ran at what was a triathlon test compared to an athletics championship event.
Notably, Hadhoum also had a better swim time than all bar 10 of the men.
The day was not all about Hadhoum though. Manon Laporte was very good too. Last year, Laporte finished 6th at the European Junior Championships. Being a year younger than Hadhoum, she did a respectable job of limiting how much time she lost to her older compatriot in Cannes.
Likewise, Léa Houart is a year even younger still. She was nonetheless able to finish 3rd after producing top-3 efforts on the bike and run.
| Position | Total Time | Name | Year | 800m | Swim rank | 5000m | Run rank | TT | Bike rank | CLUB |
| 1 | 32:45,4 | Ilona HADHOUM | 2004 | 09:28,4 | 1 | 16:48,1 | 1 | 06:29,0 | 6 | Poissy triathlon |
| 2 | 33:34,3 | Manon LAPORTE | 2005 | 09:34,9 | 2 | 17:14,9 | 2 | 06:44,5 | 14 | Vals dauphine olympic |
| 3 | 33:51,6 | Léa HOUART | 2006 | 10:06,4 | 5 | 17:21,0 | 3 | 06:24,1 | 3 | La Rochelle Triathlon |
| 4 | 34:22,9 | Julia VISGUEIRO | 2005 | 10:08,5 | 6 | 17:28,8 | 4 | 06:45,6 | 16 | Issy Triathlon |
| 5 | 34:52,6 | Marion LATIL | 2004 | 10:59,5 | 19 | 17:34,3 | 5 | 06:18,8 | 2 | Groupe Triathlon Vesoul Haute Saone |
| 6 | 35:08,9 | Liv CLARET | 2006 | 10:42,3 | 14 | 17:56,2 | 6 | 06:30,3 | 8 | Groupe Triathlon Vesoul Haute Saone |
| 7 | 35:09,8 | Léonie DOUCHÉ | 2004 | 10:23,6 | 11 | 18:16,3 | 8 | 06:29,9 | 7 | Metz triathlon |
| 8 | 35:22,8 | Lucile MERRIEN | 2005 | 10:15,3 | 8 | 18:27,9 | 10 | 06:39,7 | 12 | Poissy triathlon |
| 9 | 35:35,2 | Manon POMMÉ | 2005 | 09:49,0 | 3 | 19:40,1 | 17 | 06:06,0 | 1 | La Rochelle Triathlon |
| 10 | 35:49,1 | Anouk RIGAUD | 2007 | 10:42,6 | 15 | 18:23,5 | 9 | 06:42,9 | 13 | Metz Triathlon |
If there is one thing we can take away from the test results, it is that the future is exceptionally bright for French triathlon.
Any one of the athletes that took part could go on to become on of the country’s next stars in the sport. Such was the depth of talent on display, it is hard to say for sure who those athletes will be.
The press release from the French federation can be viewed here.
