Top junior triathlete Jackson Langley is eager to make an impact in his first appearance at the United States Triathlon Youth & Junior Nationals in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.

Langley, who will be racing against more than 70 budding triathletes from the US, qualified for the competition through last month’s Jenny Lee Tri Cup, which had 618 participants. The 15-year-old was tenth in the 16-19 category before finishing fifteenth in the final.

In his last race on the island before leaving for the US, Langley struggled to finish the final leg of the Liberty Mutual National Sprint Triathlon Championship, with breathing difficulties forcing him to settle for third in the men’s contest.

However, two weeks of intense preparation in Iowa has him feeling ready to take on some of the finest rising talent in the US and will serve as good competition in advance of the Carifta Triathlon, Aquathlon & Mixed Relay Championships, which takes place in Barbados next month.

“In my race there’s 73 people, so I’m going to be able to test myself against some of the best in the US,’’ Langley said.

“I’ve had a solid two weeks of training and hopefully I can do well in this one. It’s my first US nationals and I don’t usually do as many races in America.

“This year I just did one more race than I normally do and luckily that was the race that gave me the card to nationals, which is good. I was definitely thankful to US Triathlon for that opportunity.

“It’s a pretty big age group, from 13 to 18, so I’m definitely not going to be the youngest there.

“I’m hoping to have a good swim and I previewed the bike course today [Thursday], and it suits me.

“It’s flat and very fast, so I’m hoping to achieve my personal best time, but if I don’t it’s not such a big deal. I still have two other races this summer and I’m using this as a confidence booster.

“I’m doing a race in the Czech Republic and then going to Barbados for Carifta.”

With at least three more years of racing at junior level, Langley is aiming higher for the future.

“My race age is 16, so I still have a long time ahead of me in the US race series,’’ he said.

“Maybe in two or three years’ time, I’ll be on the podium of US nationals, or even winning it, but that won’t look really good on the US guys.”