New Zealand's Mikayla Nielsen shines amidst rain as new Junior World Champion

The star of tomorrow shone amidst a cold and rainy day in Beijing at the 2011 ITU Triathlon Junior and Under23 World Championships, part of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Grand Final Beijing. Wrapped around the elite men's championship race, the junior women and under23 women took centre stage on the 2008 Olympic Games course with London 2012 dreams in sight.

The day began with the Junior women and Mikayla Nielsen surged to the lead on the closing 5km run to claim her the biggest victory of her career and become the 2011 ITU Triathlon Junior World Champion. Australian Ashlee Bailie took the silver while Germany's Hanna Philippin came across the line for bronze. Click here for full race recap