Jule Behrens

Last year, Behrens swept all before her at junior level, winning the World Championship in Quarteira, Portugal in November to back up victory at European level in Kitzbuhel in June – where she also doubled up with mixed team relay gold. To complete the set, she also added her domestic junior title.

This year with a target on her back it has become more challenging, but she has still competed well. Attempting to defend both titles, Behrens finished fifth in Poland in the European Championship and then second in the world in Montreal in a race that was adapted to a run-bike-run duathlon.

Both races were won by Tilda Månsson, the Swede that Behrens edged into second place for her 2021 titles, in an evolving rivalry that could run for the next decade or more.

The podium finish in Montreal was also the perfect fillip for her mother, Alexander Rechel, who was competing at Ironman Frankfurt two days later.

Despite her success, Behrens is still young in the sport. She only graduated from high school last summer, which became the cue to leave her home in Darmstadt near Frankfurt to switch to the national federation training base in Potsdam, just outside of Berlin. There she is coached by Oskar Tiex and trains and races alongside the likes of Olympian and German No 1 Laura Lindemann.

With the mixed team relay rising in prominence, Behrens is also gaining plenty of experience in the two-woman, two-man event. Podiums for both club and country have followed including top spot at junior level this year in Poland, and third in Montreal, Canada.

Behrens’ strength currently lies on the run. One of the few junior triathletes able to post sub-17min run splits for 5k, she has also competed for Germany at the junior European Championships over 5,000m on the track, where she placed eighth.  

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