Running parallel to the Tiszaujvaros World Cup this weekend will be a Europe Junior Cup and, with multiple medallists from various major junior championships starting, it will not want for talent. Like the senior athletes, those starting will have to earn their place in Sunday’s final by making the top-30 in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The semi-finals will consist of a two-lap 500m swim, a one-lap 12km bike and a two-lap 3.3km run. The following day, the athletes gunning for a spot on the podium will duel over the same 500m swim and a different five-lap 12.5km bike course and three-lap 3.6km run course. The finals will be broadcast live on TriathlonLive with racing starting from 11:15 (CEST) and this will be one of the best chances of the year to catch some of the sport’s rising stars in full flow.
Junior men
At one point or another over the past 18 months, the top seeds from the three men’s semi-finals this weekend have been among the best junior triathletes on their respective continents. Wearing number 1 in semi-final 1 will be Finnley Oliver (NZL), winner of the bronze medal at this year’s Oceania Junior Championships. The champion from the 2024 Oceania Junior Championships, Jack Woodberry (AUS), will lead out the second semi-final. As for semi-final 3, the top seed will be the newly-crowned Americas Junior champion, Daniel Ubilla Sababa (CHI).
All three have proven themselves in championship racing but Tiszy’s two-day format is a different challenge altogether. Moreover, there are plenty of other contenders throughout the field. Sebastian Zurob (CHI) placed 3rd at the Americas Junior Championships and will start in semi-final 1 alongside European Junior Aquathlon champion Jan Peterka (SLO).
Zalán Trungel-Nagy (HUN) will likely carry the home hopes after finishing 11th at last year’s World Junior Championships. He will join Woodberry and recent World Junior Aquathlon Championships bronze medallist Pablo Joel Calderon Garcia (MEX) in semi-final 2. Finally, Jakub Mittner (CZE), the recent bronze at the Holten European Junior Cup, can be expected to be one of the first out of the water in semi-final 3.
Junior women
In the women’s event, there will be two semi-finals. Top seed in the first heat will be Aspen Anderson (AUS), the back-to-back Oceania Junior champion. The Australian has already raced on the World Cup stage this year, finishing 18th in Napier. In addition, she won a Europe Junior Cup in Salini last year and as such is no stranger to northern hemisphere success. In the second semi-final, the top seed is Petra Bán (HUN) who will try to emulate compatriot Fanni Szalai’s victory from last year.
Bán will have no shortage of challengers in her heat. Two rivals that stand out are Addison Houlsip (AUS), the silver medallist in Holten last month, and Jázmin Kropkó (HUN), the World Junior and European Junior Aquathlon champion. Kropkó also placed 3rd at the Europe Junior Cup in Wels and will eye up a home medal. Meanwhile, Hanna Månsson (SWE) will race in semi-final 1. A Månsson has already triumphed in Tiszy previously; older sister Tilda won the World Cup event in 2023. Looking ahead to this weekend’s event, might Hanna likewise claim a gold of her own?
