Hong Kong triathlon needs to up its game after Olympic failure, says head coach
- Andrew Wright says his programme is not justifying the vast amounts of money being spent on it by the government
Head coach Andrew Wright said Hong Kong’s triathlon performances were not justifying the vast amounts of taxpayer money the government pumped into the sport.
Jason Ng Tai-long, the city’s lone triathlete at the 2024 Olympics, did not even get to finish the race, withdrawing on the bike leg as he was about to be lapped by the leaders.
A ripped swimsuit early in the 1,500m swim cost Ng any chance of keeping pace with an elite field. Regardless of the ill-fortune that befell his athlete, Wright called for a review into Hong Kong’s ongoing inability to produce elite-level triathletes.
The sport receives Tier-A support from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), while Ng prepared for Paris with a training camp in St Mortiz, where he was joined by a handful of teammates.
“We spend a hell of a lot of money and, to be honest, it does need to be looked at,” Wright told the Post. “[HKSI] should be looking at everything, looking at the results we achieve, and be expecting more for the money we spend. Our triathlon programme gets more than most others and we don’t have the results to show for it.
“We’ve hit the benchmarks [for Tier-A funding] but that’s not good enough. We should be expecting so much more. We know we can do it, but we’ve fallen short again.”