Having assessed the top performances and the top athletes of each continent for 2023, we come to our final look back of the season. In this article, we are looking to the future as much as we are to the past, in a way, as we will attempt to determine which man was the best Junior triathlete of the year.
The levels attained by Junior triathletes have been plain scary at times this season and the next generation looks to be seriously talented. Among the many contenders for the title of top Junior this year, one man stood above the rest.
Not only did he win the biggest Junior race of all, but he then backed it up to go unbeaten in championship racing.
Joao Nuno Batista (POR)
Joao Nuno Batista confirmed himself as the best Junior male triathlete in the world as he stormed to victory at the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. Having won a silver medal at the event back in 2021, he made the final step up to the top of the podium this year.
Later in the summer, he went on to become the European Junior champion with an outstanding performance. He dominated the Super Sprint final to win by a whopping 19 seconds. For context, 2nd place through to 14th place were separated by 19 seconds. In what was supposed to be a close race, Batista blew the field away.
He then won a silver medal at the European Cup in Ceuta, joining the select club of Junior athletes to medal at the Senior level in 2023. A bronze medal at the European Junior Cup in Quarteira at the start of the year also fleshed out what was already a tremendous campaign.
Alarmingly for the rest of his rivals, Batista will still be in the Junior ranks in 2024. Anyone hoping to get the better of him will therefore likely have to summon something special.
Honourable Mentions
One of the reasons for leaving the Juniors to the end of this sequence of 2023 reflections is that this section might just be one of the hardest to compile. It is almost impossible to whittle down the remaining top Junior men of the year to three honourable mentions. There have simply been too many good performances.
Nevertheless, we will attempt to put forth three honourable mentions all the same.
Mathis Beaulieu was the best Junior male triathlete in North America in 2023. He turned a lot of heads as he won the Sarasota Americas Cup. A few weeks later, he won the Americas Junior Qualification Event in Punta Cana at which all the top Americas talent had gathered. In the summer, he then won the bronze medal in Hamburg to cap a fantastic season.
Zalán Hóbor won a silver medal at the European Junior Championships with a superb performance. Alongside that, he won the most European Junior Cups of any man, taking home the gold in Zagreb, Tabor and Tiszaujvaros. In addition, he added a silver medal at the European Junior Cup in Wels.
Hóbor demonstrated himself to be something of a breakaway merchant in 2023. Sometimes his attacks paid off while other times they did not. Although his bold moves did not land him on the podium at the European Junior Cup in Bled or the World Junior Championships, he nonetheless lit up the races and showed himself to be one of the most exciting racers in the Junior category.
Nils Serre Gehri takes the third spot here after a consistent season in which he won World Junior silver, finished 4th at the European Junior Championships and claimed European Junior Cup silver medals in Quarteira and Caorle. Each of the four performances contained some of the strongest Junior fields of the season and Serre Gehri rose to the occasion at each. A win may have eluded him but he maintained a high level of excellence throughout the year.
Names like Bradley Course (the Oceania Senior and Junior champion – a ridiculous achievement), Andree Buc (the South American Junior champion, Americas Junior champion and Americas Cup medallist) and Thomas Hansmaennel (who won in Quarteira and Wels and finished 4th in Hamburg) could equally make this list. Indeed it feels harsh to not insert them among the honourable mentions.
The main conclusion to take is that the Junior men in 2023 have been nothing short of sensational and each will need to be watched keenly in the years to come.
