Hong Kong triathlete Oscar Coggins wins Asian Under-23 Championships, gives 2024 Paris Olympics hopes a boost
- Olympian beats local favourite Daryn Konysbayev to gold in Kazakhstan, with China’s Chen Qing finishing third
- On a good day for the city’s triathletes, Charlotte Hall claims bronze in the junior women’s race
Hong Kong triathlete Oscar Coggins gave his hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics a boost over the weekend, winning the Asia Under-23 Championships in Kazakhstan.
The 22-year-old pipped the local favourite Daryn Konysbayev in a race that was not decided until the 10km run at the end. China’s Chen Qing was third.
It was a good day for Hong Kong’s triathletes, Jason Ng Tai-long and Nicholas Tsang Cheung-sing finishing fourth and fifth, respectively in the men’s race.
In the junior women’s event, Charlotte Hall took bronze behind the Japanese pair of Mako Hiraizumi and Manami Hayashi, while compatriot Pauline Courret was fourth.
But Bailee Brown, who won bronze as part of Hong Kong’s mixed relay team at the 2018 Asian Games, missed out after catching Covid-19.
“I’m satisfied with the results of most of our squad. We had a lot of athletes in the top 8,” Andrew Wright, head coach of the team, said. “We also had three key athletes missing due to Covid which lost us some results.”
Coggins, who represented Hong Kong at the Tokyo Olympics last year, was second out of the water in the men’s race, finishing the 1.5km swim in 19 minutes and 4 seconds, just behind Japan’s Mitsuho Mochizuki (18:30).
Kronsbayev was well behind at that point after finishing his swim in 21:07, and the 40km bike saw Coggins and Mochizuki go neck-and-neck around the Nur-Sultan course.