Fanni Szalai made it third time lucky at the Junior World Championship, claiming the title she had narrowly missed in each of the past two years with a commanding performance in Pontevedra.
The Hungarian phenom broke clear during the 750m swim and spent the entire 20km bike leg alone at the front. European Junior champion Anouk Danna briefly threatened to close her down on the run, but Szalai pulled away again to win in 59:21, 37 seconds ahead of the Swiss athlete. Danna’s compatriot Kimey Casanova took bronze.
Women’s race – Szalai goes wire to wire
Szalai left little to chance from the start. She completed the swim in 9:35, putting 23 seconds into her nearest rival, Martyna Gajda (POL), and 25 into Carlotta Bülck (GER).
She pressed on alone over the four-lap bike course. A sizeable chase group formed behind her, containing Danna, Bülck, France’s Anouk Rigaud and Britain’s Lauren Mitchell, but Szalai’s advantage had grown to 41 seconds by the third bike timing point.
The chasers made their biggest inroads on the final lap, cutting that margin to 26 seconds. Danna was quickest through T2 and began the 5km run just 24 seconds behind Szalai, with Bülck, Jázmin Kropkó (HUN) and Luca Vanderbruggen (BEL) a further two seconds back.
Danna immediately broke clear of the other chasers and reduced Szalai’s lead to 19 seconds at the first run split. It was the closest the contest would get.
Szalai steadied the gap, then began to stretch it again. She led by 27 seconds at the end of the first run lap and by 33 seconds at the next check before crossing the line 37 seconds clear.
Danna secured silver, while Casanova emerged from the battle behind her to complete a Swiss double on the podium. Spain’s Candela Sánchez Touza came through for fourth ahead of Kropkó, and Mitchell finished 10th for Britain.
Dream come true
Speaking afterwards to World Triathlon’s Doug Gray, Szalai said breaking away in the swim had been her plan from the start. “The main goal was to go away in the swimming,” she said. “I felt really strong this year, so I just tried to push on the bike, and it worked.”
But when she heard that Danna had closed to around 20 seconds on the first run lap, the memory of those two silver medals came back. “I was like, maybe I would take silver again,” Szalai admitted. “But I remembered how much I wanted this. I worked really hard this year and always had this title in my mind during training, through the winter and the whole year.”
The victory meant even more with her father watching in Pontevedra and her family following from home. “I did it for my team and I did it for myself,” she said. “My coaches believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. I’m still processing it, but I can finally say I’m happy.”
Men’s race
Report will follow later, live coverage is below.
Junior World Championships 2026 results
Thursday 24 September 2026 – 750m / 20km / 5km
Women
| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fanni Szalai | HUN | 9:35 | 31:34 | 16:17 | 59:21 |
| 2 | Anouk Danna | SUI | 10:16 | 31:21 | 16:31 | 59:58 |
| 3 | Kimey Casanova | SUI | 10:20 | 31:17 | 17:09 | 1:00:39 |
| 4 | Candela Sánchez Touza | ESP | 10:19 | 31:26 | 17:17 | 1:00:54 |
| 5 | Jázmin Kropkó | HUN | 10:16 | 31:15 | 17:28 | 1:00:58 |
| 6 | Carlotta Bülck | GER | 10:00 | 31:36 | 17:37 | 1:01:06 |
| 7 | Ava Martha Brambier | GER | 10:25 | 31:06 | 17:42 | 1:01:14 |
| 8 | Luca Vanderbruggen | BEL | 10:21 | 31:03 | 17:50 | 1:01:20 |
| 9 | Hannah Pollock | AUS | 10:22 | 31:11 | 17:49 | 1:01:27 |
| 10 | Lauren Mitchell | GBR | 10:11 | 31:27 | 18:11 | 1:01:45 |
Men
To follow later…
