With the pandemic forcing last year’s World Championships into postponement for the Junior and U23 athletes, the new crop of triathlon talent was hungry to show what it can do in 2021, the U23s joining the Championship Finals schedule in Edmonton and the Juniors able to form part of November’s curtain-closer in Quarteira, Portugal. As ever, the racing was world-class, the action relentless and the prospects for the future stars of the sport shining bright.

You can watch back all the races over on TriathlonLive.tv.

U23 World Championships
A perfectly timed final effort from Csongor Lehmann saw the young Hungarian go one better than his 2019 U23 silver and follow up his Junior Worlds win in 2018 with a hard-earned U23 title three years on. In the women’s race it was a delighted Emma Lombardi who finally pulled clear of her nearest challengers at the 5km mark of the run and took the tape in her first Olympic-distance World Triathlon race, heralding the arrival of another exciting French talent.

“I can’t describe the feelings right now, this is an emotional moment,” said Lehmann afterwards. “After second last time I put so much pressure on myself and that last kilometre was so hard but I wanted it so much. I had no idea how close they were. I just wanted to push the limits and try not to look back.”

“That was my first Olympic distance race, so I’m super happy,” admitted Lombardi. “The first two laps of the run I was finding the rhythm with the other girls and at the beginning of the third lap I felt good so I tried to raise it a bit and it worked!”
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It had been a chilly early start for the U23 women as they got ready to kick off what was a huge day of World Championship racing. New Zealand’s top-ranked Ainsley Thorpe was wearing the number one, but it was British pair Olivia Mathias and Sophie Alden looking to put the pace on and open up an early advantage, Lombardi well in touch, Barbara De Koning (NED) and Kira Hedgeland (AUS) able to hang onto the front group as they exited the water.

The chase packs soon merged and at the end of the first of the six laps there was 35 seconds to Lombardi and co, which had been extended to 90 seconds by the end of the 40km to the chasers like Alberte Kjaer Pedersen (DEN), Annika Koch (GER) and Lea Coninx (FRA).

The gap was down to 45 seconds with 5km of the run to go, Lisa Tertsch (GER) dropping back, Kjaer, Koch and Coninx passing Koning and getting into striking position, but once Lombardi rolled the dice the daylight behind just kept growing, the champion looking increasingly assured, Kjaer securing an excellent silver, Koch the bronze.
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The final action of the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series Finals Edmonton then saw 39 men take to the Hawrelak Park start line, Matt Hauser (AUS) wearing the number one. Chile’s Diego Moya was once again impressive through the water, followed by Valentin Morlec (FRA) and Miguel Hidalgo (BRA), Dylan McCullough (NZL) and Chase McQueen (USA).

Hauser was right there with a big group coming into T1 together and it was the Australian out front over the opening kilometres of the 40km bike with a group of eleven riders that included Tim Hellwig (GER), Leon Pauger (AUT), Simon Westermann (SUI) and Csongor Lehmann.

After 40km in the saddles there was just over one minute to the chasers and Hauser pushed the pace straight out of transition to take the race to Hidalgo, Hellwig, Moya and Lehmann, eager to sign off from the U23 category in style. Lehmann grew stronger as Moya’s hopes faded at the 5km mark and he and Hellwig eventually pulled alongside the Aussie before the Hungarian powerhouse found a crucial extra gear to hit the tape, Hellwig holding on for second, Hauser third.

Junior World Championships
It was on the beachfront course of Portuguese town Quarteira that Spain’s Igor Bellido Mikhailova and Germany’s Jule Behrens followed in the footsteps of their idols by winning the World Triathlon Junior world titles, emerging on top after two hugely unpredictable races at the start of November.

“The race was so hard, there were a lot of good athletes out there, but many came down on the bike and we had to be careful and avoid them,” said Bellido. “I knew I had to go straight out of T2 and that was where I could win it and what I had been training for.”

“I had a gap to make up after the swim and I knew I had to bike really hard because the first group were around 20-seconds ahead of us,” said Behrens. “My goal was to be first out of transition, but it was very difficult, and I was a little bit behind the others. I ran the first kilometre really hard and then after that, it was only pain and I gave it all.”
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Women’s number one Chisato Nakajima (JPN) was soon left chasing the wake of Canadian duo Sophia Howell and Kira Gupta-Baltazar but there was no catching Candice Denizot (FRA) as she was fastest up the beach and out of transition onto the opening long straight and gentle climb of the 3-lap, 20km bike.

The leader’s hammer was down right out of the first corner, but a seven-deep group formed that also included Japan’s Kotomi Anzai and Ilona Hadhoum (FRA) with a 15-second advantage over chasers including Behrens and Noemie Beaulieu (CAN) before a 26-strong group formed to roll through the final 10km as one.

Once again it was Denizot sharpest through transition and out first for the two-lap run, Nakajima and Behrens 10 seconds back but the German looking every bit a woman on a mission as she gradually picked her way towards the front runners. Sweden’s Tilda Mansson had exited transition in 25th place but only 13 seconds back, her long stride taking her all the way to fifth place by the bell, Behrens using that as the signal to unleash another charge and suddenly she had some daylight behind her, Manson cruising to silver, Maria Casals Mojica winning bronze.
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Conditions were near-perfect for the men’s beach start in Quarteira, and it was Brit Daniel Dixon going well in the early stages joined by Germany’s Henry Graf and USA’s Andrew Shellenberger staying in touch as the field strung out, Portugal’s Joao Batista only a few seconds back out of the water.

Graf kept the pace on over the opening lap of the bike and Dixon pushed a little too hard to keep up, coming off the bike at speed and soon finding himself 50 seconds back. At the end of the second lap, it was Shellenberger who lost traction and slid away in similar fashion to end his challenge, Graf left taking the final 6.5km all alone. It was early on in the 5km that he got painful cramps and ground to a near-halt, however, the Spaniard Bellido first to take advantage and pass, clearly in no mood to relinquish the unexpected opportunity and powering through to the tape.

The likes of Dominic Coy (GBR), Batista, Alexandre Montez (POR) and Canada’s Leo Roy were soon able to catch and pass the unfortunate Graf too, and it was Batista who lifted the crowd to come home for the silver, Coy with bronze.