Hong Kong triathlon ace Ivan Lo beats Asian Games champion
Hong Kong's Ivan Lo Ching-hin won the New World International Triathlon on Sunday, giving the sport a boost with its future still hanging in the balance.
Lo finished the course along the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui East in one hour, 34 minutes and 33 seconds, well ahead of Daniil Sapunov of Ukraine (1:35.10), and Vladimir Turbaevskiy of Russia (1:36.36).
I still kept working hard after the Asian Games and perhaps that's why I came out the better one in today's race
Defending champion Tony Dodds, from New Zealand, had been leading by almost a lap in the bike section but had to abandon the race after a few hundred metres in the run split, owing to an ankle problem.
Lo broke away from the leading pack midway through the three-lap run and never looked back to win in his first triathlon since the Incheon Asian Games where he steered the Hong Kong team to fourth place in the relay.
The course comprised a 1.2-kilometre swim, 32.27-kilometre bike ride and a 7.58-kilometre run, about three-quarters of the Olympic distance because of limits in location and traffic.
Defeating a strong field, which also included Incheon Asian Games champion Yuichi Hosoda, Lo attributed his success to a better training schedule.
"The triathlon season is drawing to a close and many of the other triathletes are not in top form," he said.
"I still kept working hard after the Asian Games and perhaps that's why I came out the better one in today's race."
After Lo's team missed a medal in Incheon, one of the conditions for triathlon to remain in the elite programme of the Sports Institute, its future is in doubt.
"We don't know anything yet until next March," he said. "Even if we are out, there won't be too much pressure on me as I don't get a lot of support from the programme.
"But I do worry about the future of our young triathletes as they need a lot of resources to develop."
Almost 400 athletes entered the race this year, which featured four categories of competition. Organisers hoped to increase the entry by 10 per cent next year.
