A contingent of eighteen Quebec athletes took part in the Pan-American Junior, U23 and Elite Championships held in St-Georges, Utah last weekend. This Team Quebec project had several objectives to close the season, such as the opportunity to score ITU points, gain experience over the Olympic distance for U23/Elite athletes, and fine-tune preparation for the Junior World Championships to be held next weekend in Portugal. The results were impressive, with several excellent performances in all categories.
The men were the first to dive into the Quail Creek State Park reservoir to kick off the first day of competition. A field of a dozen athletes, including Charles Paquet (Rouge et Or), Filip Mainville (Rouge et Or) and Thomas Bilodeau (Rouge et Or), took advantage of the technical, hilly course to build a two-minute lead over their pursuers entering the second transition. The race was then decided between Mexico’s Irving Perez and Charles Paquet. Despite several attacks to distance him, the Rouge et Or athlete had to concede defeat at the end of a sprint won by the veteran Olympian Perez. It was a first podium finish on the ITU circuit this season for Charles, who will fly to Abu Dhabi on Monday for the World Series event. Filip Mainville finished a solid 12th and5th U23 in his first Olympic distance competition. Thomas Bilodeau and Mathieu Benoît (CSL Triathlon) finished 28th and 30th respectively.
In the women’s race, Emy Legault (CSL Triathlon) achieved the best result of the day with a5th place . After a difficult first lap in the swim, the athlete was able to come back with flying colors in the second lap, taking the lead with a few athletes to build up a significant lead over the chasing pack before the run portion. Kamille Larocque (Rouge et Or) and Claudie Simard (Rouge et Or), who were making their Olympic debut, did well to finish 10th and 13th (4th and 7th U23). Céline Marks and Andréanne Brière-Dulude were unable to finish the race.
Sunday was devoted to the next generation of skiers, with the title of Pan-American champion up for grabs in the junior category. Thanks to a convincing race performance in all three disciplines, Noémie Beaulieu (Rouge et Or) cruised to her first victory on the international circuit, outdistancing American Faith Dasso and her compatriot Sophia Howell at the end of the five-kilometre race. Maïra Carreau (Hippocampe), Clara Normand (CSL Triathlon) and Raphaëlle Rivard all made it into the top 8, finishing5th, 6th and8th to round off an excellent collective performance from our young Quebecers.
On the men’s side, thanks to a solid swim, Mathis Beaulieu (Rouge et Or) and Nicolas Bolouri (CSL Triathlon) slipped into the lead pack on the bike, opening up a gap of almost two minutes on the competition. Unfortunately, a crash on the second lap dashed Mathis’s hopes of a result and he was forced to retire. Nicolas Bolouri achieved the best result of the day with a fine 7th place. William Nolet (Rouge et Or), Alexandre Leblanc and Louis Marchand (Hippocampe) completed the race in 11th, 16th and 21st places. Jérémy Lajoie (Rouge et Or) was unable to finish.
Parallel to these races were the NCAA championship competitions, and two Quebecers were entered to represent their respective universities. In Division 1, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu athlete Alexandrine Coursol (Arizona State University) took a fine4th place , while Clara Normand (Wagner Seahawks) placed 13th.
The final Team Québec project of the season draws to a close on this very positive note. Congratulations to all participating athletes, and a big thank you to coaches Kyla Rollinson (CSL Triathlon), Jean-Frédéric-Fortin (Hippocampe) and Pierre-Yves Gigou (Rouge et Or) for their support in making this project a success.
