Africa Triathlon

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. It’s a good motto for many endeavors, but it held true for some of the ITU’s newest world champions crowned in Hyde Park in 2013.

In both the junior men’s and junior women’s races, it was two athletes competing in their second consecutive junior world title races that ended-up victorious. The USA’s Tamara Gorman claimed a bronze in Auckland in tough conditions. In London this year the 2013 Pan American champion was in the lead from start to finish for her first world title win.

In the junior men’s it was a similar story. France’s Dorian Coninx finished 10th in Auckland but in London, off the back of claiming off a stellar season where he claimed the 2013 European junior men’s title, he stayed in the lead group comfortably throughout the race. As the contenders slowly peeled away it was left to three, Coninx and Great Britain’s Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon, but it was the Frenchman that prevailed.

For both 2013 Under23 World Champions, it was third time lucky in London.

France’s Pierre Le Corre first competed in the U23 category in Beijing in 2011 and finished a competitive seventh behind Great Britain’s Matthew Sharp. In Auckland in 2012 he missed out on the podium by less than 10 seconds, as Australia’s Aaron Royle took the honours followed by Spain’s Fernando Alarza and Great Britain’s Thomas Bishop in a four-way battle for the title.

In London Le Corre made sure history didn’t repeat this time and made his move at the start of the finishing chute, holding off Alarza and Australia’s Declan Wilson.

Australia’s Charlotte McShane also finally tasted the podium in 2013 after two previous attempts. McShane initially competed in the category in 2010 in Budapest and finished 25th, before finishing 12th in Auckland in 2012. This year in London the pint-sized Aussie went under the radar for most of the race, before unleashing a perfect finishing chute performance to claim her maiden world title, and add her name to the long list of Australians to have claimed a world championship.

One thing is for sure, going on the records of those who have won Junior and U23 World Championships, keep an eye on these names in 2014 and beyond.