At the British performance assessments, Youth and Senior athletes were on show as well as the Juniors. For the full breakdown of how the Juniors performed, click here.
Several of the athletes in the Senior category were in their first year out of the Junior ranks. As such, including them in the tests enabled British Triathlon to keep their finger on the pulse of athletes are they progress through the next stages of their careers. Similarly, the Senior field contained a number of athletes that had picked up triathlon a little later but that also showed promise.
The Senior and Junior assessments were the same with an 800m swim on the Saturday followed by a 20km bike into a 5km run on the Sunday.
For the Youth athletes, the test at hand was a 400m swim on the Saturday with a 10km bike into a 2.5km run to come on the Sunday.
Senior Men
Matthew Shipley dropped a 8:21.93 in the pool to destroy the field. Joel Lange was next out with a time of 8:38.69, itself a very good time. Shipley, though, had just about finished brewing a fresh cup of tea by that point.
In total, ten Senior men swam sub-9 minute 800m trials.
Among them was the eventual winner of the test, Hugo Milner. Milner was a little faster than expected as he dropped a time of 8:55.76; most of the surprise, though, was due to his primarily running-based background as opposed to his abilities in the water. Dipping under 9 minutes is a good benchmark, particularly for an athlete whose strengths lean more obviously in the run.
The next day, Milner clocked 27:51 on bike to ride up to the front group containing Shipley and Lange in the test. After he left T2, it was essentially game over. With a 15:07 run split, Milner cruised to victory by 20 seconds.
After his lightning quick run split at the European Cup in Quarteira last weekend, Milner’s speed was no shock. Having run for Harvard collegiately and represented Great Britain internationally in cross country, he is among the best runners British Triathlon have in their stables. Having run sub-14 minutes for the 5000m on a few occasions, his split of 15:07 at the weekend also indicates a course that could have been slightly long by a small margin.
The runner-up was in the Senior test was Reuben Trotter. After losing time in the swim, Trotter came storming back with a 15:37 5km. Similarly. Charlie Harding vaulted himself to 3rd on the back of a 15:40 run.
Like Milner, Trotter and Harding will need to find a little more speed in the water to contend for international medals. The two men swam 9:03 and 9:10, respectively, so were not slouches in the water. The point is that even after performing well at the tests there will be bigger fish for them to fry this season and in the coming years.
On another note, last year’s British Junior Super Series winner Ryan Symington also had a solid day. In his first year out of the Junior ranks he swam 8:59 and ran 16:18.
Senior Women
Maisie Aubrey was the fastest of the Senior women in the pool as she logged a time of 9:46.16. Only a tenth behind Aubrey, though, lurked Lizzy Edge.
Both Aubrey and Edge lost over half a minute in the swim the the fastest Junior woman, Lily Scott. However, the following day they wiped away that advantage.
In a similar fashion to Milner, Edge rode to victory in her category after bridging to the lead on the bike (on the back of a 31:56 split) and then producing one of the fastest runs of the field (18:48).
Like Symington in the men’s field, Edge aged up from the Junior ranks at the turn of the year. In 2022, she finished 3rd overall in British Junior Super Series and had some very promising results.
Moreover she represented Britain in international competition last summer. A 9th place finish at the European Junior Championships preceded a 19th place at the World Junior Championships. While Edge was beaten by a Junior athlete at the assessments (Eve Whitaker), her performances nonetheless bode well for the upcoming season.
Eva Edwards ran through the field to take 2nd. After losing over a minute in the swim, Edwards rode well on the bike (going 32:23). It was her run, though, that truly stood out. With a split of 17:45, she was the best female runner at the test.
Lara Atkinson came home in 3rd among the Senior women. In doing so she finished 7th overall with four Junior women ahead.
Youth Men
Rory Bryant led the pack with a time of 4:13.69 in the 400m, putting him 6 seconds clear of next best man.
Brandon Pye found himself a little over 12 seconds behind Bryant. On the Sunday, he came roaring back. With splits of 15:09 on the bike and 7:36 on the run, Pye surged to victory by 10 seconds.
The 2nd and 3rd place finishers, Luke Holmes and Alex Robin, essentially matched Pye’s split on the bike. However, they had no answer for his speed on the run as they clocked 7:57 and 7:55, respectively.
Bryant ultimately took 4th place, after cycling 15:19 and running 7:59, a mere 5 seconds behind Robin.
Youth Women
Siena Stephens led the way in the swim with a time of 4:37.54. That time would have put her in the top-20 of the Youth men’s rankings. The eventual winner of the test, Anabelle Souter, was only 6 seconds behind after the first part of the test.
In a similar fashion to Pye in the Youth men’s category, she used a field-best run split to take the win.
A front group formed on the bike as Lauren Mitchell and others rode up to Souter and Stephens. Once through T2, though, Souter dropped a time of 8:44 over the 2.5km.
Mitchell hung on for 2nd with a time of 8:52. The 3rd place finisher was Patience Lamb who ran 9:18.
Stephens unfortunately did not finish. Having ridden 16:53 on bike to be among the leaders into T2, she dropped out during the run.
You can view the full results here.
