Europe Triathlon

As the world’s triathletes descend on Tiszaujvaros for the next instalment of the unique World Cup race, so to do the Junior athletes for the ETU European Junior Cup.

It was the Junior race which first trialled the unique race format of semi-finals and finals in 2011, which has now been incorporated as a main feature of this popular race venue.

Once again, the European Juniors will follow the same format as the World Cup – with two women’s semi finals and four men’s.

Under ITU competition rules, the top 14 athletes from each women’s semi final will qualify for the final along with the next two fastest times. The top seven in each men’s semi final will qualify, again alongside the next two fastest times.

Junior Women Semi Final Preview

Double Junior European Champion Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) lines up in Heat 1 and will be heavily fancied here to go all the way. Her team-mate, Sian Rainsley (GBR), stands alongside her and has displayed her sprint speed to great effect as part of the British Junior relay teams who won in Alanya and finished 3rd in Holten.

Jaz Hedgeland (AUS) has never finished lower than 5th in 2013, competing in a mixture of Elite and Junior competitions and Hrista Stoyneva (BUL) has also impressed throughout in making the step up to Elite competition.

In Heat 2, Ditte Kristensen (DEN) and Emma Sharkey (IRL) come into this race in good form having finished 1st and 3rd respectively in Athlone last month.

Dora Fuchs (HUN) could be Hungary’s best prospect of success on home soil with one podium to her name already in 2013 and Charne Prinsloo (RSA) will be buoyed by a 5th place finish in Istanbul last week.

Start List Semi Final 1

Start List Semi Final 2

Junior Men Semi Final Preview

As always the Junior Men’s race is wide open but a number of athletes are coming into this race in top form.

In Heat 1, Bence Lehman (HUN) and Milan Tomin (SRB) battled each other hard in Istanbul last week before finishing 4th and 6th respectively.

Start List Semi Final 1

All eyes will be on Gordon Benson (GBR) in Heat 2. The Brit finished 2nd in Geneva last month in an Elite race on the back of 4th place in the Junior European Championships in Alanya. If Benson can negotiate safely through to the final this European Cup could be his for the taking.

Start List Semi Final 2

Heat 3 offers an exciting battle between Hungarian duo David Pap and Istvan Kiraly. Both have won European Cups before and will enjoy the backing of the home crowd. Ron Lewinsohn (ISR) has made great progress in 2013 culminating in a career high 5th place finish in Kupiskis and Eddie Van Heerden (RSA) adds to a potent mix on the back of his 3rd place podium finish in Istanbul last week.

Start List Semi Final 3

In the final heat, Dalien Stateff (ITA) and Grant Sheldon (GBR) are the most experienced but a mixed field offers a chance to athlete of the up and coming Federations to perform. Aliaksander Dakhno (BLR) and Danilo Jovanovic (SRB) are held in high regard by their National Federations. Jovanovic finished 18th in his semi final last year and one year on should possess the experience to make it through to the final this time round.

Start List Semi Final 4

The 2013 Tiszaujavros ETU Junior European Cup gets underway when the first junior women’s semi-final starts at 1:00pm (local time) on Saturday 10 August. Semi-finals will start in waves every 10 minutes, followed by the first men’s heat at 1.20pm.

The finals will follow on Sunday 11 August with the women’s at 1.00pm followed by the men’s final at 2.00pm.