The European Triathlon Union has created a new high-performance team for young athletes called Team ETU, in the hope that they will eventually succeed at the Olympics.
The 2014 team includes 15 athletes aged 17-21, with a travel grant available for each of them to compete at four ETU European Cup events in 2014: Dneprotpretovsk in the Ukraine on 24th-25th May, Tartu in Estonia on 13th July, Riga in Latvia on 9th-10th August, and Koper in Slovakia on 13th September.
There are no British athletes included in this year's team, but there are four Israelis (Shahar Sahiv, Amitah Yonah, Ithamar Alster and Yuval Gome), two Turkish athletes (Ali Atlan and Ipek Oztosun), two Luxembourgers (Max Biewer and Bob Haller), one Serbian (Milan Tomin), one Bulgarian (Hrista Stoyneva), one Slovenian (Matija Meden), one Slovakian (Monika Orazem), one Estonian (Kaidi Kivioja), one Bulgarian (Hrista Stoyneva) and one Belarusian athlete (Aliaksander Dakhno).
Kathleen Smet, Secretary General of the ETU and a member of the selection commission, said: “The ETU is pleased to give these athletes an opportunity to grow in the sport in the hope that at the end they will manage to be part of the biggest sports show in the world; the Olympic Games.”
Do you think the ETU has picked Europe's most promising young triathletes for Team ETU? Who have they overlooked? Let us know in the comments below!