This Saturday and Sunday, nearly 1,000 talented young triathletes aged 7-19 will return to Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio, for the USA Triathlon Youth & Junior National Championships. The event is being held in West Chester for the eighth consecutive year and will return annually through 2021.
“USA Triathlon is pleased to return to Voice of America Park for another exciting race weekend at Youth & Junior Nationals,” said Brian D’Amico, Director of Events at USA Triathlon. “The safe, scenic and spectator-friendly course is ideal for showcasing our up-and-coming multisport stars, and the city is within driving distance for more than half of our youth and junior high-performance teams.
“The longstanding relationships we have built with Butler County, the City of West Chester and the local authorities have allowed us to put on first-class events year after year, all while forging connections with the local community.”
Four-time US Olympic triathlete Hunter Kemper will be onsite at the Youth & Junior Nationals to support participants, sign autographs, announce the races and present awards.
The most decorated US male triathlete in history, Kemper is the only American and one of only two male triathletes to have represented his country at the first four Olympic triathlon competitions (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012). Kemper will sign autographs at Voice of America Park on Friday, August 2, from 10:00-11:30 EDT, and will be available for media interviews throughout the weekend.
Racing begins on Saturday, August 3, with the draft-legal Youth Elite (ages 13-15) and Junior Elite (ages 16-19) National Championships. Athletes in these races earned spots on the start list through qualifying events, including last year’s national championships and the 2019 USA Triathlon Youth & Junior Elite Series. The draft-legal format is similar to what is contested at the Olympic Games and other elite International Triathlon Union (ITU) competitions.
The junior elite race, beginning at 08:00 on Saturday for girls and 09:40 for boys, will feature a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.
The top male and female finishers at Junior Elite Nationals will earn the opportunity to represent the US at the ITU Junior World Championships, set for August 30 in Lausanne, Switzerland. If the winner of the race has already earned a spot on the World Championships roster via another qualifier, the spot will go to the second-place finisher, and so forth.
The youth elite races begin on Saturday at 11:05 for girls and 12:05 for boys, and will cover a 375m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run.
Several past and present members of the USA Triathlon National Team — including 2016 US Olympians Ben Kanute and Greg Billington, 2015 Pan American Games silver medallist Kevin McDowell, ITU Under-23 world champion and two-time ITU Junior world champion Taylor Knibb, and ITU U23 and Junior world champion Tamara Gorman — all began their triathlon careers on the youth and junior elite racing circuits.
On Sunday, August 4, junior elite triathletes ages 13-19 will return to the start line for the Mixed Relay event at 07:30. The draft-legal mixed relay format, which will debut as a medal event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, features four competitors (two boys, two girls) per team. Each team member will complete a 250m swim, 5km bike and 1.2km run before tagging off to the next athlete. Approximately 60 relay teams are scheduled to compete.
The weekend concludes with the Youth Age-Group National Championships, in which athletes ages 7-15 have the opportunity to earn national titles in their age groups. The race is non-draft-legal, and no qualification is required to participate. A youth paratriathlon division is also included as part of this race.
Athletes in the paratriathlon open wave go off first at 10:40 on Sunday, followed by the first wave of age-group athletes at 10:55. Course distances are age-based, with athletes ages 7-10 completing a 100m swim, 5km bike and 1km run, and ages 11-15 completing a 200m swim, 10km bike and 2km run. Paratriathletes will contest the same course as the 11 to 15 year-olds.
