A storm was brewing on the horizon. When the women’s World Junior Championship got underway in Wollongong, it seemed a matter of time before conditions turned for the worse, and the storm did indeed strike. It was just not the one we expected.
In the end, this had nothing to do with the weather, nor did it have anything to do with the returning champion. Instead, Léa Houart (FRA) cooked up something truly special as she whizzed to the world junior title, leaving her rivals thunderstruck in her wake.
After a late change to the course due to the conditions, Houart led the field out of the 750m sea swim. Right behind were Fanni Szalai (HUN) and Lisa Lecompte (FRA). The defending gold medallist Ambre Grasset (FRA), however, found herself 55 seconds down and out of contention before the race had truly begun.
An early breakaway of five coalesced at the front. Kjara Reckmann (GER) and Linda Krombach (LUX) completed the quintet. One athlete unfortunate to miss out was Diana Dunajska (SVK); after a strong swim that left her in contact with the leaders, she was hurt by a 10 second penalty in T1 for being late to the race briefing.
Dunajska and Anouk Danna (SUI) rode together some 10 seconds behind the leaders. After Dunajska recently finished 6th at the Rome World Cup and Danna won the European Youth title and placed 3rd at the European Junior Championships, both had legitimate podium ambitions if they could make it back to the leaders.
But then it all went wrong. A clash of wheels on the second bike lap saw Danna hit the deck, Dunajska left alone and the front pack riding away.
Reckmann tried an acceleration at the midpoint but could not escape her fellow leaders. Soon after, Krombach went down after another touching of wheels. Nevertheless, with Grasset’s group (the second chase pack) down and out, their gap to the front surpassing the minute mark, the leaders looked set to contest the medals.
Yet Dunajska was ready to die trying and on the final lap made a huge attack from the first chase group. She closed some of the gap but still had half a minute to whittle down on the run. On the flip side, she put 15 seconds into the rest of the chase group.
Up ahead, Houart hit the front on the run after a superior T2. Last year’s bronze medallist looked in fine form as Szalai was forced to hunt her down. On the downhill section, Szalai bridged up to Houart’s shoulder and then assumed the lead. She could not shake a cruising Houart, though.
As Reckmann and Lecompte fought for bronze, Houart reclaimed the lead. Then, on the final lap, she attacked.
If her acceleration was the first crackle of lightning, what followed was a full-blown hurricane that swept away Szalai’s opposition entirely. Come the finish line, Houart had put 36 seconds into Szalai, a massive gain in no distance at all. It was a spectacular move and signed off a race in which Houart did not put a foot wrong. Having been the fastest swimmer, the best in T1 and T2, the second-quickest runner and the fourth-fastest cyclist, she was simply the best on the day.
“It’s amazing!” said Houart afterwards. “Last year I finished 3rd. Here it’s my last race as a junior so I worked very hard this season. Over the summer I broke my wrist so I didn’t train very well, but after that I restarted and had the world championships in my head.”
A slightly (and understandably) disheartened Szalai crossed for silver, matching her result from last year. Being born in 2008, she is young even for a junior and will still have two more attempts at conquering this event. In a measured post-race interview, she said, “I think it was a very tough course, but I really enjoyed it. In the run I just felt empty, but I tried and I gave 100%. One race is not going to define me and it will give me inspiration for the winter to work harder and smarter.”
Meanwhile, the race for bronze was very much alive. Lecompte slowly gained ground over Reckmann and looked set to make the podium. But then, after a race in which almost everything had gone awry, Dunajska came flying past. Through penalties, tangles on the bikes and solo moves, she forced her way into 3rd place to take the bronze medal.
Of the finish, she said, “I could tell they (Lecompte and Reckmann) weren’t going to be picking up the pace so if I was going to pass them I had to go all out so they wouldn’t have that chance or hope to keep up with me.”
“Everything that could’ve happened, happened. I’ve had a really long season, a lot of experiences. I’ve had falls myself, I’ve slipped in transition. I came into this to just enjoy it and anything else that happened, well, that’s destiny.”
Lecompte would settle for 4th place while Carlotta Bülck (GER) passed her teammate to take 5th, with Reckmann crossing in 6th.
