The semi-finals of the European Junior Championships kick off today in Balikesir, Turkey.
At the forefront of the event will be the newly-crowned World Junior champions, Ilona Hadhoum and Joao Nuno Batista. Both claimed their titles in memorable fashion in Hamburg. Hadhoum was a class apart in the women’s race as she swam away from the field and then backed up her performance with the fastest run of the day.
Batista, meanwhile, won with a brutal sprint finish.
Having proven their credentials on the toughest Junior stage, they will line up as the favourites.
However, Hadhoum and Batista will face tough competition. Including Hadhoum, four of the top-5 female finishers at the World Junior Championships will be starting, with Manon Laporte, Johanna Uherek and Margareta Vrablova racing. On the men’s side, Batista will be joined by Nils Serre Gehri and Thomas Hansmaennel who also finished in the top-5 in Hamburg.
Laporte won the bronze medal in Hamburg having beaten Hadhoum at the French Junior Championships. An exceptional all-round athlete, she cannot be discounted in Balikesir.
Similarly, Hansmaennel (the 2022 World Junior champion), won the French Junior title in Gravelines before claiming 4th place in Hamburg. Hansmaennel had also won the European Junior Cups in Quarteira and Wels earlier in the year. Although he did not come away with a medal in Hamburg, he nonetheless had a great race and it would be foolish to overlook his credentials.
On the note of European Junior Cup wins, Vrablova bounced back from a still-impressive 5th place in Hamburg to win in Tabor. After plenty of bad luck at championship events, Vrablova is due a slice of good fortune which could be all it takes to push up to the top of the podium.
Good fortune then brings us to Serre Gehri. Put bluntly, he hasn’t had much.
It’s a strange thing to say about the silver medallist from the World Junior Championships. Yet Serre Gehri has finished 2nd at the European Junior Cups in Quarteira and Caorle, at the French Junior Championships and in Hamburg. Most athletes would kill for such results but Serre Gehri’s quest for gold goes on.
He’s a phenomenal runner and will likely get the win he has been so close to sooner rather than later. For the time being, though, he will have to find a way to circumvent the curse of finishing 2nd at every race.
How Uherek fares will also be of interest. The German athlete was one of the breakout performers of the World Junior Championships. Her challenge in Balikesir will be to back up her performance and show she can do it without the benefit of home support. Given how well she raced in Hamburg, Uherek should have no problem with fighting for a medal this weekend.
While Hamburg was the most obvious touchstone with which to gauge form, several athletes have logged strong results elsewhere in July.
Aniek Mars finished 8th at Bundesliga Tübingen with a complete performance. She will be joined by Sonja De Koning on the Dutch team who won consecutive bronze medals at the European Junior Cups in Holten (behind Mars who took silver) and Tiszaujvaros.
Antonia Jubb won a silver medal at the European Junior Cup in Tabor behind Vrablova and has the running speed to contend for a medal. In addition, Gabriel Barac won the European Junior Cup in Panevėžys.
Gregor Rasva and Márton Kropkó finished behind Barac and form half of the four man breakaway that illuminated the men’s race in Hamburg. One of their breakaway companions, Zalán Hóbor, won in Tabor too, adding the gold to his win in Tiszaujvaros.
With Hóbor, Rasva and Kropkó racing, the men’s race can expect a furious tempo in the swim and on the bike.
Alexander Bozhilov of Bulgaria won bronze behind Hóbor in Tabor and will also be in the hunt for another medal.
As such, there is a considerable array of talent racing with plenty of contenders with the form to suggest that they can fight for the win. It will be anyone’s guess as to who will claim the gold. Maybe the safest bets, though, will be Hadhoum and Batista.
