The first Africa Cup event on the World Triathlon circuit took place in Nyanga, Zimbabwe, and in the junior men’s event, South Africa’s Nicholas Horne reiterated that he is shaping up as a name to watch from the continent.
He earned a come-from-behind victory courtesy of a 16min 28sec 5km run split that transformed a deficit of almost 90 seconds at the second transition into a winning margin of 27 seconds.
This represented Horne’s eighth win from eight starts on African soil. Being born in 2008, he has plenty of time to develop his advantage over his continental peers. Nathan Max Centlivres Chase (Namibia) and Zac Fletcher (South Africa) came away with second and third place, respectively.
There was further South African success in the women’s race as Kadence Ribbink won by 7min 29sec. Ribbink, the 2023 Africa Junior Championships silver medallist and participant at the 2024 World Junior Championships, performed the same trick as Klamer by leading all three disciplines. Karli Lotter (South Africa) and Nicole Madya (Zimbabwe) then earned the remaining spots on the podium.
