Europe Triathlon

ETU’s first ever Youth Triathlon Festival has finished and what a fantastic success it was. We have seen the biggest ever meeting of athletes and coaches from all over Europe. 165 athletes registered for the series of races over several days. Semi-Finals lead into Finals and then there was the crowning glory, the Mixed Team Relays. All the while the athletes were preparing, racing or recovering, the city of Tiszaújváros was there to welcome, support, cheer and ensure that everyone racing here knew, this is “Triathlon City”, Hungary.

A weekend that saw Holten and its massive army of volunteers and now so far to the east, another city with a long history of association with our sport.

A packed schedule of racing saw athletes compete over a “super-sprint” distance. A 2-lap 500m swim, then a 2-lap 12k bike and a final 2-lap 3.6k run. The fastest athletes from each semi-final would progress through to the final.

Athletes aged 15-17. That means flat out racing and exciting, enthusiastic risk-taking to gain the extra bit of ground. It meant wonderful spectator sport and showed off our swim / bike / run life perfectly. The format would allow the top nine athletes from each semi to go through to the finals along with the fastest three losers.

First up on Saturday were the Youth Women. Three semi-finals would deliver the best to the Final, which was due to take place on Monday.

In the first wave we were treated to a stunning display of swimming from Russia’s Tatiana Baskakova. She entered T1 with a 40 second advantage over the chasing athletes. Behind her and quicker along the run to transition came Pia Totsching AUT, Carlotta Missaglia ITA who won the Junior race in Melilla at the start of the season and Denmark’s Anne Holm.

Baskakova’s biking skills were not quite equal to the others and she lost time but her running, well her pace was a real threat and she came so close to the top three.  A place in the final for her and for Holm who won, Missaglia who came second and Totsching who came third.

In the second semi, the lead out of the water was by local favourite, Dorka Putnóczki. Racing for the host city, she was cheered all around the course. Keeping her company was Anne Struijk AUT, Carlotta Bonacino ITA and Gabriela Ribeiro POR. 

But it was Denmark’s Sif Bendix Madsen a new name on the international circuit, who stole the show with a superb run to take her into a comfortable lead. To the absolute delight of the crowds, Putnóczki came second and Struijk came in third.

The 3rd semi saw Bianca Seregni ITA comfortably lead the swim. Behind her came teammate Beatrice Mallozzi who had won a good silver in Burgas. Between them came another Danish athlete, Augusta Grønberg Christensen. The bike over and it was still Italy at the front end but with stunning pace, Swiss athlete and World Junior Duathlon Champion, Delia Sclabas was racing through the field. First place to Mallozzi, second to Sclabas and third to Seregni.

Fastest qualifier was Madsen.

For the men, the first semi was a chance for the local supporters to cheer on Gergő Soós HUN as he led out of the water. Just behind him came Spain’s Javier Romo Oliver and GB’s Marcus Dey.
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The big threat in this race was the Portuguese Vasco Vilaça. His gold in Burgas was earned after a real fight all the way to the line and his run pace was going to be a challenge to the rest of the athletes. As they left the water, the Portuguese athlete was only ten seconds behind. Out on the bike he worked his magic and then it was the run. Nothing was going to stop him and he cruised to victory. Coming home in second was Soós and third went to Nicolò Strada ITA.

The second semi saw similar times in the swim but it was on the run that the race was won and won in style by Swiss athlete, Maxime Fluri. His pace was enough to hold off Russia’s Grigory Antipov RUS, whose twin brother had DNF’d in the first semi. Third place went to Debrecen athlete, Balázs Kovács HUN.

The final semi would have the crowds cheering as Csongor Lehmann HUN was racing and was the favourite in the wave.

He was led out of the water by Belgium’s Simon Folens. Lehman had to work to win the race and only just managed it with Russia’s Georgiy Klimenko challenging all the way to the line to take second.

Behind them Dmitriy Fedoseev, his teammate, was racing for the third place against Spain’s Romaric Forques. In just as tight a finish as for the second place, it was Forques who just edged out Fedoseev but behind them the fastest run was clocked by GB’s Matthew Willis.

So, Semi-Finals over, it was time to celebrate and enjoy the wonderful hospitality of the city.

Bringing such an event to a town is never easy. The impact of so many athletes, as the roads are closed, will always create “challenges” for the management of traffic but with Tiszaújváros the main difference is that the inhabitants and the city authorities have recognised the true benefit of bringing so many athletes to race. The arrival of so many athletes, coaches, team managers, families, officials and spectators, does indeed create increased pressure on the town.

With this comes the additional economic benefit and the legacy that does not merely say, “We love triathlon” but in fact shouts this from every roof in the city. In the same way that Holten has, as a town, taken possession of the race, the same applies here and the party atmosphere that is so strong has become something that every triathlete wants to be part of.

Between the semis and the final the athletes had a chance to network, whilst the coaches were able to attend seminars and talks.

One focus was upon anti-doping. Well-attended and continuing the hard work of Chris Kitchen and his initiative of raising the awareness of the need to be responsible so as to keep our sport clean.

The finals were held on the Monday, using the same course. The delivery of the event mirrored the conditions that the athletes will race when they are in the U23 and Elite Categories, so this Festival is not just about making friends between races. It is a massive learning experience for athletes and coaches and designed to prepare them for the next stages in their journey along this exciting triathlon pathway.

The women raced first and once again it was a strong swim from Tatiana Baskakova RUS but this time she had stiff competition from Hungary’s Dorka Putnóczki, who was 5 seconds adrift but who made up that time on the 160m run to T1.

They were comfortably ahead of Gabriela Ribeiro POR and Carlotta Missaglia ITA and all were trying to get away from Sif Bendix Madsen DEN, who was tucked safely in the group.

Beatrice Mallozzi ITA had been 40 seconds off the lead but with blindingly fast transitions and a hard bike, she pulled back into contention.

The inevitable happened and Madsen kicked into overdrive. Her run pace was simply too much for the others and she soon surged to the front. Only Mallozzi could keep her in sight and she saw the Dane take gold.

Silver went to Mallozzi who held off the fast pace of Delia Sclabas SUI whose 11:48 run was easily the fastest. Putnóczki did her best for the host nation but on the day her run pace was no match for the medal winners.

The men’s race was just as exciting. The stronger swimmers tried their best to create space between them and the real threat from Portugal, Vasco Vilaça.

To a small degree this worked and it was Spain’s Romaric Forques who led out with Csongor Lehmann HUN. They had a small lead over Javier Romo Oliver ESP and then came Maxime Fluri SUI and Marcus Dey GBR. Then came Vilaça.

Out onto the bike and a group of 7 worked hard to keep ahead of the main peloton. Forques, Romo and Ander Noain Lacamara ESP, along with Dey, Fluri, Csongor and Vilaça.

The run saw again a small group up the pace. Vilaça pulled along Romo, Forques, Fluri and Lehman and was joined by Gergő Soós HUN and Dmitriy Fedoseev RUS. Disaster was to take Soós out of the equation as a violation in Transition and a missed penalty took him out of the race. The rules are there and need to be followed, even at Youth Level.

The threat of the British athlete Matthew Willis was seen in the semis. Clocking the fastest run with Grigory Antipov, he tore through the field and, overtaking one after the other, he was battling with Vilaça all the way to the tape. Finally the Portuguese athlete, no stranger to close finishes after Burgas, edged ahead.

As Vilaça grabbed the finish tape, Willis was almost breathing down his neck and stole silver from the hands of Forques, who had to settle for bronze.

Time to rest ?

Certainly not – there are relays at the Festival too !

The Mixed Relay would be raced in the same way as is planned for the 2020 Olympics, with a Swim: 270m (1 lap), Bike: 6,4km (2 laps) and Run: 1,55km (2 laps). The first athlete would be female, handing over to a male athlete, then to female and with a finish from a male athlete. This format is without doubt one of the most exciting in our triathlon portfolio. When the IOC came to see the Relays in Glasgow in 2014 they were thrilled and it may well have been that first-hand experience that cemented their decision to grant access to Tokyo.

The relays saw 28 teams race each other. Some teams were a mix of nationalities, choosing this opportunity to try out the format. It was one of the longest transition areas we have ever seen at a relay.

Russia took an early lead in the swim with Tatiana Baskakova once more showing her strength in the water.

The bike was led in by Hungary’s Dorka Putnóczki who went into battle with Anne Holm DEN.

Zsombor Dévay led the swim but was soon joined on the bike by Vasco Vilaça POR and Andreas Nørgaard DEN.

Onto the run and Italy’s Nicolò Strada pushed ahead to the handover and the swim.

Positions changed again and gave the host nation a chance to cheer more when Fanni Soós led out onto the bike.

She held position only to see her lead attacked by Italy’s Carlotta Missaglia.

Soós dug deep but behind her were Mariana Vargem POR and Russian, Ekaterina Spitcyna.

The final handover was to open the most exciting leg of the race when each athlete was racing way into the red to ensure that his flag was hoisted highest on the podium.

Csongor Lehman had the edge on the swim but was joined on the bike by Italy’s Nicolò Ragazzo, Russia’s Grigory Antipov and Switzerland’s Sasha Caterina.

Lehman kicked out of T2 and led the Italian but with a 4:37 run, it was a stunning victory for the young Russian team.

They had given everything for this race and the reward was the gold medal and celebrations that followed.

Hungary, with Lehman’s fast running, took them to silver and Italy edged comfortably ahead of Portugal to take bronze.

Massive thanks to Tiszaújvárosi Krónika for the sequences of photos, to Tiszaújvárosi Triatlon Klub and Judit Fróna for their photos. Also, a big thanks to all the athletes, coaches and Team managers who shared their photos and thoughts and made writing this report so exciting.

For Gergely Markus, Sport Director, International Triathlon Union and Race Director of the event, “We are very grateful for the ETU and especially of its President Renato Bertrandi to trust us hosting this new format of the Youth European Championships. The event was not just about the different races, but for the young athletes to enjoy the time together. Tiszaujvaros was always the forefront of establishing new formats and concepts, which is deep in the DNA of the Local Organising Committee. The busy week continues with some activities for the local people and on the coming weekend the Junior European Cup and ITU Triathlon World Cup for the 20th year in a row… just to add another chapter to our history.”

For ETU President, Renato Bertrandi, “I am certainly very pleased that the original idea has been translated into reality and into such an exciting reality that this Festival will, I am certain, be spoken about for many years to come. The planning that went into making sure this event was a success and the hard work from the Tiszaújvárosi Triatlon Klub has resulted in easily one of the most thrilling events I have been to. This Festival is so very important in our development plan and from this long weekend of races, I am certain we will some of these young athletes’ names at future Olympic Games. Thank you Tiszaújváros!”

So ended the first ETU Youth Festival. A breath-taking display of enthusiasm, of great athletic potential and of unity amongst our European Federations. An idea has become reality and next year cannot come soon enough.