NEWS

#BuenosAires2018 has already started!

By Paul Groves | 29 Nov, 2016

The youth Olympics is an initiative that was conceived by an Austrian, Johann Rosenzopf, who was born in Klagenfurt. After initial reluctance, the idea was taken up by the IOC and in 2010 in Singapore, we saw the first YOG Summer Games with 3,600 athletes participating. The same number came to Nanjing in 2014. Winter Games took place in Innsbruck in 2012, in 2016 in Lillehammer and will be in Lausanne in 2020.

Of the top ten finishers in Singapore, Germany’s Marlene Gomez-Islinger has had victories in Echternach (2011) and was European U23 champion in the 2013 Strobl am Wolfgangsee ETU Cross Triathlon European Championships. A victory in Melilla in 2015 and a 4th place in Madrid this year and she is still U23.

Amongst the men, Austria’s Alois Knabl took bronze and has, since then, continued to race around the world and has mixed distances between sprint and middle. Another top ten finisher who is still active comes from France, Jérémy Obozil. He was absent from the ETU / ITU scene for some time until the recent World Cross Triathlon Championships in Snowy Mountains.

Looking at the 2014 YOG however, it is clear that more athletes who raced there are still active on the ETU/ITU circuit.

Since 2014 we have seen YOG gold medal winners race in Europe.

Australia’s Brittany Dutton most recently had a top ten finish in Tønsberg and, were it not for her failure to stop at the Penalty Box in Karlovy Vary, she would have scored well in the Premium European Cup there behind some very strong older athletes.

The bronze-medal winner from France, Emilie Morier went on in 2016 to take Relay gold in the Nyon FISU World University Triathlon Championship to go with her Geneva European Relay gold and has six top ten finishes since her return from China.

The men’s winner, Ben Dijkstra added a Junior World title when he won the duathlon championships in Adelaide in 2015 and a junior bronze in Cozumel. His medal collection has grown and grown since Nanjing and his performances in the UK have shown him to be a force to reckon with at Elite Level. Still only 18, he has a great future ahead of him.

Denmark’s Emil Deleuran Hansen took the bronze and then in a very tight race in Lisbon, the Junior bronze. He too has made the podium several times since Nanjing and when we look at these athletes and those they raced against, we can see that the future of our sport is going to be strong.

2014, yes, it seems ages ago but 2018 is getting close, so close now. There are any number of potential medallists racing here in Europe. Being so conscious of the need to provide safe and fair races where these young athletes, so full of potential, can race, ETU focussed this year on the Youth Festival that was such a success in Tiszaújváros and in 2017 that event will move to Lithuania. The 2017 Panevėžys ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships Festival will be a chance for all our potential Youth Olympians to test themselves and to see how they perform against each other in preparation for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games that will take place in Buenos Aires.

With the qualification system now available it is time to start looking forwards to Argentina, to Buenos Aires and the 2018 YOG. As you will be able to see, we will be holding a Regional Qualifier between 1st January and 16th July 2018 and ETU’s Secretary General, Kathleen Smet will be preparing a bid document to be sent out in the first few weeks of 2017. The decision of the host city will be made in Kitzbühel at the Presidents’ Conference.

ETU President, Renato Bertrandi, who attended the Youth Festival this year in Tiszaújváros, gave his support to the process, “I am delighted that so many athletes who raced in Nanjing have stayed with our sport. Our athletes are so well trained nowadays that when you watch the youth races it is sometimes difficult to keep in your mind that they are still quite young. The preparation, from the athletes and from their coaches, is amazing and a clear confirmation that the ETU Development Programme is having positive results. The clock is ticking and Buenos Aires is not so far away now. In the New Year we will release the bidding documents for the YOG Qualifier and in the summer Panevėžys will host the ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships Festival. I look forwards to seeing all our potential Youth Olympians in Lithuania. Good luck.”

Related Event: 2017 Panevezys ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships Festival
13 - Jul, 2017 • event pageall results
Results: Mixed Youth Relay
1. Team I Great Britain GBR 01:07:10
2. Team I Portugal POR 01:07:24
3. Team I France FRA 01:07:40
4. Team I Switzerland SUI 01:07:47
5. Team I Italy ITA 01:07:55
6. Team I Russia RUS 01:08:01
7. Team I Israel ISR 01:08:03
8. Team I Austria AUT 01:08:16
9. Team I Hungary HUN 01:08:17
10. Team I Denmark DEN 01:08:44
Results: Semifinal 1 Youth Men
1. Daniel Slater GBR 00:36:45
2. Andreas Carlsson SWE 00:36:56
3. Baptiste Passemard FRA 00:36:59
4. Itamar Eshed ISR 00:37:03
5. Davide Ingrilli ITA 00:37:06
6. Balázs Kovács HUN 00:37:26
7. Boris Pierre FRA 00:37:27
8. José Vieira POR 00:37:28
9. Riccardo Brighi ITA 00:37:34
10. Iñaki Candel Bermudo ESP 00:37:34
Results: Semifinal 1 Youth Women
1. Jessica Fullagar FRA 00:40:51
2. Abbie Williams GBR 00:41:01
3. Beatrice Mallozzi ITA 00:41:18
4. Anja Weber SUI 00:41:29
5. Freya Thomson GBR 00:41:45
6. Alzbeta Hruskova CZE 00:41:48
7. Hannelore Willen BEL 00:41:55
8. Augusta Grønberg Christensen DEN 00:42:01
9. Chiara Cocchi ITA 00:42:08
10. Irina Juldibina RUS 00:42:22
Results: Semifinal 2 Youth Men
1. Matthew Willis GBR 00:36:56
2. Sam Hart GBR 00:36:59
3. Itamar Levanon ISR 00:37:16
4. Levente Karai HUN 00:37:16
5. Florent Lefebvre FRA 00:37:19
6. Sergio Baxter Cabrera ESP 00:37:21
7. Valdemar Solok DEN 00:37:24
8. Nicolò Strada ITA 00:37:28
9. Alexandre Ribeiro POR 00:38:01
10. Matteo Nonino ITA 00:38:08
Results: Semifinal 2 Youth Women
1. Pia Totschnig AUT 00:41:00
2. Audrey Ducornet FRA 00:41:05
3. Libby Coleman GBR 00:41:11
4. Nora Gmür SUI 00:41:13
5. Anna Goreva AIN 00:41:18
6. Hanne Peeters BEL 00:41:22
7. Nikolett Ferenczi HUN 00:41:23
8. Chiara Lobba ITA 00:41:26
9. Costanza Arpinelli ITA 00:41:29
10. Hagar Cohen Kalif ISR 00:41:44
Results: Semifinal 3 Youth Men
1. James Chantler-Mayne GBR 00:36:47
2. Ricardo Batista POR 00:36:51
3. Alessio Crociani ITA 00:36:52
4. Jamie Riddle RSA 00:37:01
5. Zsombor Dévay HUN 00:37:04
6. Oscar Gladney Rundqvist DEN 00:37:10
7. Gergely Kiss HUN 00:37:29
8. Jakob Fink AUT 00:37:34
9. Jan Skrjanc SLO 00:37:48
10. Angel Sanchez Carreras ESP 00:37:54