Ibe Baelde, who won silver at the Belgian junior triathlon championship three weeks ago, finished second this weekend in the Europe Triathlon Junior Cup in the Czech Tabor. French triathlete Pao Milo was a class too strong, but with the fastest running time of the entire pack, Baelde made a nice catch-up race that led to victory within 19 seconds. Anton Befayt came fourth and missed the podium by six seconds, because Bulgarian Alexander Bozhilov was just a fraction faster in running.
The Belgians were at the start of the Europe Triathlon Junior Cup race in Tabor with a large block. The 7 Belgian triathletes had to swim 750 meters, cycle 20 km and run 5 km. In addition to the second place of Ibe Baelde and the fourth place of Anton Befayt, there was also a nice 12th place for Mats Decoene. Wannes Ares became 14th, Ilio Kopriva 20th, Gilles Vanhaelen 34th and Jari Stappaerts 41st.
Results Europe Triathlon Junior Cup Tabor boys
Lucie Philippe 12th in the girls
In the girls’ category Lucie Philippe came 12th and Belgian Youth A champion Luca Vanderbruggen took 16th place. Marit de Meulenaere had to abandon the race after cycling, as expected. She is still struggling with the consequences of a stress fracture. The win went to French triathlete Lucile Merrien ahead of Mexican Mario Lopez and French Manon Pomme.
Results Europe Triathlon Junior Cup Tabor girls