Europe Triathlon

Georgia Taylor-Brown and Adrien Briffod delivered superb performances in completely different circumstances to win gold at the ETU Junior European Cup in Tiszaujvaros.

Taylor-Brown delivered a performance full of power and control to win her first European Junior Cup race. For Briffod, he was involved in an incredible sprint finish involving three athletes in which he just pipped Grant Sheldon (GBR) on the line to win his first European Junior Cup.

Junior Women Review

Reigning European Junior Champion Georgia Taylor-Brown put in another supreme performance to win the ETU Tiszaujvaros European Cup.

The Brit, who won her semi final heat, comfortably powered away from her rivals on the run, having worked well in a group of three to establish a strong position.

Sophie Coldwell and Holly Grice worked with Taylor-Brown on the bike but couldn’t keep up on the run. Coldwell pipped Grice on the final lap to win the silver medal with the Australian having to settle for third and the bronze medal.

Sophie Coldwell and Sian Rainsley put in a spirited swim to lead heading into T1 with Holly Grice, a winner in hear semi final heat, also following close by.

Georgia Taylor-Brown followed in 4th and Kristin Ranwig was 5th as they embarked on a 12km bike.

But Taylor-Brown was quickly on the pace and burst into a lead. Grice and Coldwell went with her and the trio quickly established a 16 second lead over the chase group of 5 which included Jaz Hedgeland, Jodie Duff (both AUS), Kristin Ranwig (GER), Sian Rainsley and Leah Peploe (both GBR).

The lead trio maintained their pace through the second lap, with the chasers only able to nick a second off the lead. But a monster final lap gave the leading group a mammoth lead and once on the run there was no stopping Taylor-Brown.

She said: “It’s such a good atmosphere here and it was great to get a good blast out before the Worlds. In a semi final you want to take it easy as possible, yesterday was like a Sunday run so it was good to get a hard run out today.

“I ran hard into transition and then me, Sophie and Hollie worked really hard on the bike and got a good pace on. It was a really good race.”

Junior Men Review

Adrien Briffod won a dramatic sprint finish on the line in a pulsating Junior Men’s European Cup final.

Kristof Anheuer and Mark Devay (both HUN) delighted the home crowd by emerging first from the water after a fast 500m swim.

The Hungarians maintained their good early pace and created a lead group of five, which included Delien Stateff (ITA), Gordon Benson (GBR) and Stefan Konrad (GER) after the first bike lap. Behind them, a large chase group of 14, including Grant Sheldon (GBR), Briffod (SUI) and Istvan Kiraly (HUN), and managed to eat into the lead by the end of the second lap.

By the end of the third lap these two groups had merged to become one big pack with riders jostling for position and working together to drive the pack forward.

As the pack disembarked into transition and onto the run it was anyone’s game. After Lap 1, Anheuer was ahead with Briffod and Stateff giving chase and the home crowd sensed a positive result for the Hungarian.

But an incredible second lap from Sheldon propelled him from 7th into the lead approaching the final lap, with the Hungarian duo of Kiraly and Anheuer giving chase.

However, in an astonishing final twist, Briffod, Sheldon and Kiraly were neck and neck sprinting hard on the final 300m stretch and it was Bifford who nicked the win on the line.

The Swiss athlete was delighted after the race. He said: “I attacked on the run and gave it everything I had. I run so fast, it was a good sprint – I have never had to sprint like that before and I’m really happy.”

Hungarian Kiraly was delighted to win a medal on home soil: “It’s a very good feeling, I’m very happy and the crowd really encouraged me and cheered for me the whole race.”

Picture Credit: Janos Schmidt/Triathlon.org