Hugo Milner, a rapidly-emerging triathlon star, agonisingly missed out on a medal in the senior men’s race at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels on Sunday.
After a near-disastrous start in old-school muddy conditions when he nearly slipped as the race began, he barely made a mistake after that. He was driving the pace at the front with eventual winner Yann Schrub of France for the first three quarters of the 9km event.
But when Schrub kicked on the fifth of six laps, he put daylight between himself and Milner. Milner, who switched to triathlon just a couple of years ago and this season notched a breakthrough success when running through the field to land the World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki in Japan last month, ended up in fourth place.
British triathlete Hugo Milner wins World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki in Japan in October 2023 (Photo Credit: World Triathlon).
Norway’s Magnus Tuv Myrhe and home hope Robin Hendrix bridged up to Milner and relegated him to fourth place. He finished in 30:27, 10 seconds behind the winner and seven and five seconds adrift of Myhre and Hendrix respectively.
It was a fine performance and a massive improvement on last year’s 32nd place as he stopped the clock in 30:27. Great Britain and Northern Ireland ended a memorable day with seven gold medals at the Championships, their best ever tally.
Now, all focus switches back to triathlon for Milner, with a training camp in Australia coming next. Going into 2024 he’ll aim to be one of the men battling for a spot alongside already-qualified Alex Yee in the Team GB squad for the Paris Olympics.
Written by
Jonathan Turner
Jonathan Turner is News Director for both TRI247 and RUN247, and is accustomed to big-name interviews, breaking news stories and providing unrivalled coverage for endurance sports.
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