Lausanne 2019: Italy one-two at Women’s Junior World Champs

Beatrice Mallozzi completes World and European Championship double 

Day one of racing at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final on Friday started early with an 0700 start time for the Women’s World Junior Triathlon Championship.

Racing over the Sprint distance, the short and sharp hills on the multi-lap Lausanne course were enough to see the leading group reduced to 14 athletes as they returned to T2 after the 750m (non-wetsuit) swim and 20km bike.

🔔 1 lap to go and the junior women are hunting placement. Wallace @BritTri now in front seat. The leaders are still in tact but the chase group are making up time and closing the gap which is now down to 17S.
Follow the action https://t.co/JwsigQEnNx#WTSGrandFinal @MyLausanne pic.twitter.com/YAlRsY6r8F

— TriathlonLIVE (@triathlonlive) August 30, 2019

The group included both of the Brits racing, Sophia Green and the Silver medallist from 12 months ago in Gold Coast, Erin Wallace. Also there was the now Leeds-based French athlete, Jessica Fullagar, plus the Italian duo of Beatrice Mallozzi and Costanza Arpinelli. Having won the ETU Junior European Championships in Weert recently, Mallozzi was looking for a championship win-double.

Fullagar from France is leading the junior women's race in Lausanne!
Tune in to the finish on https://t.co/JwsigQEnNx
1 lap to go and it's firing! #WTSGrandFinal @MyLausanne @FFTRI pic.twitter.com/HdzYRFz7p0

— TriathlonLIVE (@triathlonlive) August 30, 2019

14 athletes were quickly broken up, and as they entered the final kilometre the podium looked set to be decided between Fullagar and the the two Italian athletes. The Italian duo dropped Jessica in the final few hundred metres to set up a sprint finish, with Mallozzi taking the title just one second ahead of Arpinelli, both athletes recoding the joint fastest run splits on the day (17:32). Erin Wallace finished fifth via an 18:37 run split, matching her position from the European Championships at the end of May.

In a striking sprint finish Beatrice Mallozzi from ITA is crowned Junior World Champion in Lausanne! 🥇#WTSGrandFinal
Silver to Costanza Arpinelli ITA 🥈
Bronze to Jessica Fullagar FRA 🥉
The action is LIVE at https://t.co/JwsigQEnNx @MyLausanne @federtriathlon pic.twitter.com/02rd3sKK9k

— TriathlonLIVE (@triathlonlive) August 30, 2019

ITU World Junior Triathlon Championships, Lausanne – Friday 30th August 2019
750m / 20km / 5km

ELITE JUNIOR WOMEN

1st – Beatrice Mallozzi (ITA) – 1:00:41
2nd – Costanza Arpinelli (ITA) – 1:00:42
3rd – Jessica Fullagar (FRA) – 1:00:53
4th – Hannah Knighton (NZL) – 1:01:26
5th – Erin Wallace (GBR) – 1:01:47

24th – Sophia Green (GBR) – 1:03:16

Knowing @sophiagreen27 she will be hungry for more but it’s fantastic to see an athlete commit from the start and race right at the front of her first World Champs! Really enjoyed the process leading up to this race and lessons learnt to move forward! Great job Sophia. https://t.co/hLIFd6WSj3

— Andrew Woodroffe (@andrewwoodroffe) August 30, 2019