The junior men’s and women’s World Championship races will be contested on Friday, September 16 and 3pm and 5pm, respectively. The world crowns will be earned over a sprint distance course that includes a one-lap swim, followed by a flat and technical four-lap 20km bike and finished with a two-lap 5km flat and fast run.
Women’s Preview
In the women’s race, Cassandre Beaugrand is back and looking primed to take her first World Championship title after winning the European title earlier this year. She also just competed at the Olympic Games as the youngest woman on the start list at just 19 years old. Having scored silver in 2014, but didn’t finish last year, 2016 is looking every bit her year to claim gold. The young French athlete ran the top 1500m track time in France this year to be selected for the World Championship team, so she’ll have the speed to finish.
While Beaugrand can back up her performance with a strong run, Taylor Knibb (USA) has been cruising through the elite triathlon circuits with monster bike performances. At just 18 years old, she rode with the women’s best athletes in Stockholm, earning recognition from none other than the women’s best cyclist Flora Duffy. Knibb put in a strong performance in August in Montreal for her first World Cup medal. She was second last year, so will also be looking for that elusive gold.
Germany’s Lisa Tertsch and Lena Meissner will be striving to follow in the footstepts of compatriot Laura Lindemann, who won the race the past two years and will race as an Under23 athlete. Both women line up as medallists at this year’s European Championships. While Australia’s Sophie Malowiecki has also been making inroads in races this year & will add pressure to the field.
Click here for the complete start list
Men’s Preview
In the men’s junior race, only two men, Peer Sonksen (GER) and Mathew Hauser (AUS), from the top five from the 2015 World Championships will return this year. However, as last year’s race was changed from a triathlon to a duathlon due to inclement weather, the rankings in 2015 may not indicate favorites for the race in Cozumel.
That said, Hauser has gone on this year to prove he’s a force to be reckoned with with a string of podium performances in Asia and Oceania in the junior ranks.
Although Ben Dijkstra competes in ITU triathlons sparingly, but is a talented all around triathlete that won the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. His teammate Alex Yee is the Junior Duathlon World Champion, and closes out races with incredible speed, splitting in the low 15-minute region.
But it was Great Britain’s Samuel Dickinson that impressed at European Championships, taking second alongside Spain’s Javier Lluch Perez. Both men will need to keep Hauser and Yee at bay on the swim and bike if they want to reach the World Championship podium.