Twenty-eight of England’s brightest young swim, bike, run athletes recently attended the England Next Generation induction camp.

Re-launched in October with largely a new intake of athletes, England Next Generation operates as the Home Nation Talent programme for England, featuring the very best young triathletes in England as they continue their pathway in the sport.

The selected athletes, primarily in years 11, 12 and 13 at school or college, recently began the year with a weekend camp at Oundle School in Northamptonshire to mark the start of this year’s programme, with athletes coming together at selected weekends throughout the year.

The purpose of last month’s induction was to allow the athletes to get to know each other along with the staff leading the programme, as well as providing an opportunity for participants to learn more about the programme’s objectives and what they, as individuals, would like to achieve.

During the weekend, athletes took part in a variety of team building challenges, including a table football tournament, an orienteering challenge, tasks that required athletes to work together to complete fun challenges and a relay during their swim training.

The weekend also included an introduction to the programme and a discussion on swim standards, with the swimming element a key focus of this year’s England Next Generation.

Dan Salcedo, British Triathlon Olympic Pathway Manager, said: “Developing athletes who have the skills and abilities to achieve at the very highest levels of the sport is the ultimate goal of the Performance Pathway and Next Generation is a key part of that.

“It was a really good weekend and I think the biggest plus was the athletes being able to have the opportunity to spend time together especially after the last 18 months.

“Just the fact that they were able to spend the weekend with other like-minded people I think was really powerful for them. It was as nice seeing them connect in that way as it was seeing them do some swimming and running during the camp.”

There are very close links between England Next Generation and the British Triathlon World Class Programme with coaches and sports science/medicine practitioners working very closely across both programmes to better align coaching and support services.

Selection to England Next Generation is based on a number of factors such as race results, athlete development linked to the Athlete Development Framework, technical skills and the various attitudinal and performance behaviours that are requisite for long-term success and development in the sport.

More details about England Next Generation including the selected athletes will be shared soon. In the meantime, more information on the England Talent Pathway can be found here: https://www.britishtriathlon.org/gb-teams/talent/english-talent/regional-talent-academies