Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong triathlete Oscar Coggins qualifies for Olympics as highest-ranked Asian
- The 20-year-old clinches the spot after coming fourth at the Asian Triathlon Championship in Hatsukaichi, Japan
- Coggins, who burst onto the triathlon scene in 2015, is ranked 56th in the world and is seen as one of Hong Kong’s dark horse medal chances
Oscar Coggins is headed to the Tokyo Olympics after the 20-year-old Hong Kong triathlete finished fourth at the Asian Triathlon Championship in Hatsukaichi, Japan to seal a place as the highest-ranked Asian.
He will join 54 other men as they complete a 1,500-metre swim, a 40km bike ride and 10km run on July 26 in downtown Tokyo at Odaiba Marine Park.
Coggins’ points total puts him too far ahead of Kazakhstan’s Ayan Beisenbayev before the end of the qualification period, although governing body World Triathlon won’t make the results official until June.
“It’s basically a done deal,” said Genevieve Pong, the president of the Hong Kong Triathlon Association. “And he is now heading to Dubai for training as he can’t come back to Hong Kong now because of the 21-day quarantine. And then he will head back to Japan for the World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama on May 15, which will feature some of the best in the world, so it will be a good test for him.”
The Asian championship was his first race since March 2020, when he came sixth at the Shandrani ATU Triathlon African Cup in Mauritius.