NEWS

France’s Coninx claims 2013 Junior Men’s World Championship title

By Merryn Sherwood | 12 Sep, 2013
In a thrilling finish that came down to final few metres in London, France's Dorian Coninx claimed the 2013 ITU Junior Men's World Championships. Although th...

In a thrilling finish that came down to final few metres in London, France’s Dorian Coninx claimed the 2013 ITU Junior Men’s World Championship on Thursday.

Although the 2013 European Champion was in the lead group all day in an impressive all-round performance, it wasn’t until the final finishing straight that he could finally make sure of the win, just holding off Great Britain’s Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon in a thrilling sprint to the end.

In an incredible performance, all three of the medallists ran sub 15-minute five kilometre run splits.

Austin said he was thrilled to podium at home, and overall do well with the two teammates he’s been training with for years.

“When you go and see all the guys on the podium, I’m just happy I get to go back to the hotel with a medal,” he said. “Me and Grant and Gordon (Benson) have been training together for a few years, It’s a really strong set up. We’ve got a really strong team.”

Sheldon said the chance to race on the London 2012 Olympics course was just an added thrill in a brilliant day.

“It was really cool, I was down here watching last year and to be now a part of it is really cool,” Sheldon said.

The Junior Men’s race started with another wetsuit swim in the Serpentine and while Coninx was first out of the water, the swim didn’t do much to split the 84-strong field.

Almost all of the athletes exited within 30 seconds of each other and a large lead group of 21 formed on the first lap of the bike. While they had a lead 30 seconds on the first lap to the second chase, another stunning performance from the Netherlands Jorik Van Egdom ensured it didn’t stay that way long.

Van Egdom, who is the 2013 Junior Men’s Cross Triathlon and Duathlon World Champion, started the 20km bike leg in a third chase pack that was 42 seconds behind the leaders one lap down. However he bridged to the first chase on the second lap and helped them reduce the gap to 27 seconds. In a race-changing third bike lap the chase cut that back to just 14. It meant that the group was close enough to bridge to the leaders just ahead of the second transition, putting almost 50 athletes in T2 within 14 seconds of each other.

In those conditions a fast transition was always going to be important and the eventual top six had some of the best. While Germany’s Jonas Schomburg initially led the run, it didn’t take long for the pre-race favourites to group together including the top-four from this year’s European Championships, Coninx, Austin, France’s Raphael Montoya and Great Britain’s Gordon Benson, as well as the Oceania Champion Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS), Van Egdom and Sheldon.

While Van Egdom faltered in the final lap, that top six didn’t let go of their lead. Birtwhistle was the first to drop from medal contention, leaving it a five-way battle between the two Frenchman and three Brits. They headed out on the final run lap shoulder to shoulder, but it was Coninx that took charge in the final kilometre. While Austin and Sheldon desperately tried to catch him, he was too strong in his first ITU World Championship title and strode out to win by around 100 metres.

Montoya held on for fourth while Benson finished fifth. Birtwhistle claimed sixth after completing a 10-second penalty.

Related Event: 2013 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final London
11 - Sep, 2013 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Javier Gomez Noya ESP 01:48:16
2. Jonathan Brownlee GBR 01:48:17
3. Mario Mola ESP 01:49:10
4. Dmitry Polyanskiy RUS 01:49:21
5. Vincent Luis FRA 01:49:24
6. Laurent Vidal FRA 01:49:28
7. Aaron Royle AUS 01:49:30
8. Crisanto Grajales MEX 01:49:32
9. Reinaldo Colucci BRA 01:49:34
10. Joao Pereira POR 01:49:34
Results: Elite Women
1. Non Stanford GBR 02:01:32
2. Aileen Reid IRL 02:01:57
3. Emma Moffatt AUS 02:02:00
4. Jodie Stimpson GBR 02:02:06
5. Alice Betto ITA 02:02:09
6. Emma Jackson AUS 02:02:11
7. Sarah True USA 02:02:16
8. Andrea Hansen NZL 02:02:56
9. Ashleigh Gentle AUS 02:03:06
10. Ainhoa Murua Zubizarreta ESP 02:03:26
Results: Junior Men
1. Dorian Coninx FRA 00:51:57
2. Marc Austin GBR 00:52:00
3. Grant Sheldon GBR 00:52:01
4. Raphael Montoya FRA 00:52:19
5. Gordon Benson GBR 00:52:25
6. Jacob Birtwhistle AUS 00:52:28
7. Amitai Yonah ISR 00:52:32
8. Morgan Davies GBR 00:52:32
9. Antonio Serrat Seoane ESP 00:52:33
10. Lasse Nygaard Priester GER 00:52:40
Results: Junior Women
1. Tamara Gorman USA 00:57:08
2. Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR 00:57:31
3. Laura Lindemann GER 00:57:34
4. Jaz Hedgeland AUS 00:57:39
5. Sumire Ohara JPN 00:57:51
6. Cassandre Beaugrand FRA 00:58:02
7. Ditte Kristensen DEN 00:58:28
8. Holly Grice AUS 00:58:47
9. Maya Kingma NED 00:58:54
10. Sophia Saller GER 00:58:56
Results: U23 Men
1. Pierre Le Corre FRA 01:42:47
2. Fernando Alarza ESP 01:42:51
3. Declan Wilson AUS 01:42:55
4. Igor Polyanskiy RUS 01:43:16
5. Matthias Steinwandter ITA 01:43:27
6. Andrey Bryukhankov RUS 01:43:44
7. Uxio Abuin Ares ESP 01:44:00
8. Ryan Fisher AUS 01:44:02
9. Davide Uccellari ITA 01:44:05
10. Marten Van Riel BEL 01:44:12
Results: U23 Women
1. Charlotte McShane AUS 01:55:38
2. Ellen Pennock CAN 01:55:39
3. Amelie Kretz CAN 01:55:41
4. Hanna Philippin GER 01:55:43
5. Joanna Brown CAN 01:55:49
6. Tamara Gomez Garrido ESP 01:55:57
7. Sophie Corbidge NZL 01:56:18
8. Tamsyn Moana-Veale AUS 01:56:31
9. Emmie Charayron FRA 01:56:39
10. Sara Vilic AUT 01:56:57