JUNIOR FEMALE NOEMIE BEAULIEU
Triathlon Magazine Canada Junior Triathlete of the Year
Over the last two years, Noemie Beaulieu has been on an absolute tear. Back in 2018, at just 14 years of age, Beaulieu won essentially everything she could in her home province of Quebec: two individual gold medals at the Provincial Games, a victory at the Provincial Championships, along with the U-15 Quebec Cup series title. All of that culminated with her being named Youth Athlete of the Year by Triathlon Quebec and Female Provincial Level Athlete of the Year by Sport Quebec.
In 2019, she took things up a notch. Coached by Eric Deshaies in her hometown of Gatineau, Que., Beaulieu made her debut as a junior at the Grand Prix Elite series race in Joliette in June, placing third overall and second among juniors. One week later in Drummondville, she won the second event of the series, defeating the entire field that included U-23 athletes.
Her success against the older competitors came earlier than Deshaies had expected.
“Her first year as junior was kind of ‘no man’s land,’ but I know she can compete with other junior girls,” said Deshaies. “What really surprised me was her ability to stay in the game with the U23 and senior women.”
“Because she didn’t have any weaknesses and her run was so strong, I always told her that if she can finish the bike portion with the lead pack, she can win.”
She followed that up by winning both the individual and relay junior events at the 2019 WTS Edmonton in July, and then captured wins in both the enduro and eliminator events at Super League Triathlon Ottawa in August.
Her drive to get better, coupled with her innate ability, has been the key to the huge amounts of success she’s experienced at such a young age.
“She is a naturally talented athlete, but I think she doesn’t really know how good she is,” says Deshaies. “She always wants to know what to do to improve. She cares about all of the small details in order to reach her goals. And for sure she has the maturity to continue to succeed at the higher levels.”
Her incredible season was capped off facing an international field at the Super League Jersey race, finishing second in the Youth girls’ event.—JS