TEENAGER Luke Holmes has returned from his first event with Team GB.
The triathlete was selected for the European Youth Championship in Banyoles, Spain, following a strong performance at the British Triathlon Super Series race at Mallory Park in June.
There were three Team GB spaces available and the Caesarean fought to a second-place finish, becoming only the second Islander to gain selection for the British side at a major championship event, following in the footsteps of Lily Scott in 2019.
Jack Kennedy also raced at the same event in 2019, representing Ireland.
While Holmes was slightly disappointed with his 26th place finish individually, making the final at the first time of asking was a solid achievement.
He then bounced back to help his side finish sixth in the mixed team relay race.
‘I really enjoyed my first experience racing away with the GB team,’ he said
‘It was my first appearance in a really high-level racing environment, and the standard was much higher than Iam used to at British national level events.
‘I was really pleased to qualify for the final and it was great to be part of the British relay team with a strong result on the final day.’
Holmes raced in the third of three semi-finals, with around 30 athletes in each, all vying for a top-nine finish to make the final.
The sprint format took place over a 300m swim, 6.6km cycle and 1.8km run.
The teenager managed to finish ninth in his race to secure a ranking of 26 heading into the final.
The main event proved tense as the Islander came out of the water in 13th position.
However, the entire 30-strong field grouped together in one cycling peloton, leaving the running leg to be crucial.
Holmes would run slower than he managed in the semi-final to finish in 26th.
The final day of racing was reserved for the mixed relay, with two boys and two girls each completing a full triathlon each.
Holmes’ racing over the prior two days secured his spot in the team, in which he took the third leg of four.
His teammates handed over responsibility in 11th place with not many athletes around the Jerseyman.
He made up a place on the swim, overtaking the Belgium team before forming a duo with a Swiss athlete on the bike.
The tandem took it in turns to try to close the gap in front, to no avail.
However, Holmes enjoyed a much stronger running leg than the prior day, as he overtook the Swiss athlete and reduced the gap to Romania in front.
Team GB also had a strong last leg to finish the event in a solid sixth position.
There is no rest, however, as the triathlete now jets off alongside eight other Jersey athletes bound for Trinidad & Tobago for the Commonwealth Youth Games, which gets under way on Friday.
