Men’s World Junior Triathlon Championships - Preview

Moments after the junior women’s race has been decided, the junior men will toe the line for the final event of this year’s Budapest World Triathlon Championships.

Team Canada:

Matt Sharpe, 19 (centre) - The 2010 National Junior Champ has brought it all together this year, showing the rest of his competitors that giving him an inch is no longer an option. Not only is he holding strong runners off, he’s lengthening his leads and making it look easy. Without getting too ahead of ourselves, his transition to the senior ranks is expected to be the smoothest of the bunch. One can only assume that Matt is more than capable of bettering his 27th place finish from last year’s championships, and look for this guy to be getting after it from the gun.

Alexander Hinton, 19 (left) - The Eastern Canadian Champion has steadily climbed to the top of the National Junior Rankings over the past couple years, now sitting at second behind Mr. Sharpe. Putting himself in the main pack from the get go has made the difference for Hinton, no longer chasing, but being chased. As one of the fastest varsity cross country rookies in the country, his racing is only going to progress as he continues to round himself out into a full spectrum triathlete. If his cards are well dealt, and Hinton feels ‘on’ when he hits pavement in Budapest, he will have the fire to run for a top eight finish.

Cole Stewart, 19 (right) - Stewart has not shied away from building leads early in races. Whether it’s shattering his legs to ride with swim/bike specialist Ben Kanute (USA), going solo for 12km while a pack of 30 chases, or getting away with a teammate at Nationals, Stewart’s innate need to break away early will serve him well when he exits the swim with other quality riders in Budapest. Look to see him at the front coming out of T2, running for his life to keep up with selfish wheel suckers, or if he’s had a great day, fending off a big pack gunning for him and a few select athletes who made a commitment on the bike.

Obstacles:

Team USA (Ben Kanute, Lukas Verzbicas, Kevin McDowell): The American Boys have put together a lethal squad for Budapest. Kanute, although not a particularly strong runner, can swim and bike with any junior triathlete on the planet. This will play nicely into the hands of his teammates. McDowell, last year’s 4th place finisher in Gold Coast, has proven equally unwilling to let races play out solely on the run, breaking away in Monterrey earlier this year. McDowell, a very capable runner, is maybe the all-round favourite for Sunday’s race. If, however, he and others are joined by Verzbicas heading out of T2, there is no doubt who will run anyway with the title. Verzbicas is one of the fastest stand alone high school runners to come out of the states in years. Team USA has the potential to put three athletes in the top ten.

Aaron Barclay (NZL) - The man who took down McDowell in Singapore last month. Looks rather muscular.

Alois Knabl (AUT) - The man who took down Barclay in the final leg of the relay event in Singapore. 3rd in the Individual Event.

Vincent Hernandez (ESP) - European Champion.

Andrey Brukhankov (RUS) - Uber cute in a bathing suit. Other notes: decent athlete


Upon further review (I knew I was forgetting to look at the Oceania):
Michael Gosman (AUS) - 2nd at World Duathlon Champs, beat strong field at Oceania Championships (including Barclay). Missed pack at Singapore YOG, interesting to see if he can swim front pack.