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Harry Sweeny joined our team in 2024 and quickly became a key rider for us in the classics and grand tours. This is the Australian’s fifth season as a pro.

Harry is still discovering his limits as a racer. As a U23, he won Il Piccolo Lombardia and has since ridden the Tour de France, where, as a rookie, he finished third on a stage and rode onto the Champs-Élysées in the break, as jets trailed bleu, blanc, et rouge streaks into the sky overhead. He has raced Paris-Roubaix in the wet and Liège-Bastogne-Liège alongside his friend, the former winner and cycling legend, Philippe Gilbert. Last year, he finished seventh on GC at the Tour of Luxembourg after riding hard for his teammates all season. Harry believes that his best is yet to come.

He came to cycling late. As a kid growing up in Brisbane, where his family moved when he was a child, he played soccer and rugby and did gymnastics and swam. He took up triathlon as a schoolboy, but focused on cycling when he was a junior and was recovering from a running injury. He started out racing local crits. His athleticism soon shone and he was picked to race the world championships in Richmond, Virginia for the Australian national team.

He moved to Europe to race, first for a small junior team in Belgium, and then for two years with the Australian Institute of Sport squad, which was then based in Italy, before moving back to Belgium for his final year as an U23. Those years opened up new worlds for Harry.

EF Education-EasyPost’s open-minded international character is a big draw for him. On the teams he has raced for in the past, he has often been one of the few foreigners. Our team is made up of riders and staff from dozens of nationalities. Most of them know what it is like to build a life far from home and can help with all of the little difficulties that come with that. Our multicultural make up helps us to expand our outlook and think beyond traditional ways of doing things too.

Harry is a lot more than a bike racer. He is a keen cook and he loves to go camping and hiking with his girlfriend, an environmental scientist, near their adopted home in Andorra. In the winter, he loves to ski. And he is a YouTuber.

This summer, Harry will return to the Tour de France in EF Education-EasyPost pink. We know that we can always count on him to be where we need him to be when it counts – and to bring a laugh to the bus.

Hamlet Manukyan, a 17-year-old Armenian artistic gymnast, debuted in the sport at the age of five, encouraged by his father. Coming from an athletic family – his cousin Hayk Manukyan is a European champion in wrestling – Hamlet grew up in the small town of Apaga, about an hour from the capital city of Yerevan, and had to travel daily for training.

While balancing school and gymnastics, Hamlet had his breakthrough in 2023 becoming junior world champion on pommel horse and rings.

Earlier this year, competing at the senior level for the first time, he won gold medals on pommel horse at the FIG World Cups in Osijek, Doha, and Cairo. In May, he was crowned European champion on the same apparatus in Leipzig, Germany.

“It’s definitely challenging to balance sports with college, but we try our best to keep up with our classes. We make up for any gaps by reading more and staying focused on our studies,” said the student from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture.

Now, Hamlet is excited to represent his country at the FISU Games alongside his best friend, Mamikon Khachatryan.

“In the past, there were a lot of injuries, but now we’ve grown. As adults, we’re able to win medals for our country, and that makes us incredibly proud. We work very hard to perform at our best. We’ve been preparing for these competitions for a long time, and we’re ready. Let’s see how everything turns out.”

Rising star

Khachatryan, 18, is also a student at the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture. He started gymnastics at the age of five as well with the support of his mother. Like his friend and teammate, this year marks his debut in the senior category.

In 2023, he won silver on pommel horse at the Junior World Championships, finishing just behind Manukyan. Earlier this year, he added more medals to his collection, silver at the European Championships in Leipzig and gold at the Tashkent World Challenge Cup.

About his successful start at the senior level, Khachatryan said: “I am very happy and proud that we were able to win a medal in our very first year. Representing our country and winning medals is an incredible feeling.”

Friendly rivalry

Outside of sports, Manukyan and Khachatryan are close friends, but when it comes to pommel horse, they become rivals. Still, that rivalry never affects their friendship.

“Above all, we are friends first, then competitors. We support each other a lot. When he achieves something, I am there for him, and he does the same for me. Friendship always comes first,” Manukyan said.

“Outside of sports, we are friends but in competition, we are rivals,” added Khachatryan. “Still, that doesn’t stop us from supporting each other and maintaining a good relationship. First of all we are friends on the first floor, competitors on the second.”

The two students-athletes start competition on Tuesday, 22 July, with high hopes of standing on the podium once again — this time at the FISU Games – especially on their favorite apparatus, the pommel horse.

The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games take place from 16-27 July. Watch all the competitions live on fisu.tv. Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Düşlem Gökgöz, FISU Young Reporter, Türkiye

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.

We warmly thank FISU Official Partner Qiaodan Ltd. which provides remarkable uniforms to FISU Family and International Technical Officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continued to provide its support during the postponement of events due to the global pandemic, and recently extended the relationship with FISU up to and including 2025.

Day two in Brno is complete, with both sessions held in dry conditions. The track improved throughout the day, and so did the lap times. Both of our riders made progress. Yuki Kunii was still struggling a bit with the bike’s feeling, but we managed to take a step forward in qualifying.
Taiga, unfortunately, suffered a technical issue during the last Free Practice which limited his track time this morning. Luckily, we were able to solve the problem before qualifying, and he was able to complete the session without further issues.
Of course, more dry track time would have helped both riders build confidence, and position-wise we are not where we wanted to be. Yuki also mentioned a small mistake in his final time attack that cost him a better grid spot.
Still, we saw clear steps forward on both sides of the garage. Now we will focus on further improvements for the race. The goal is to fight for points tomorrow — and we believe both riders are capable of that.