Asian Games: triathlon squad heading to Hangzhou are Hong Kong’s best ever, coach Andrew Wright says
- The squad, comprising three bronze medallists from Jakarta 2018 and three Games debutants, head to Hangzhou this week for World Cup event
- But the World Cup race will feature a flatter running course than the daunting route for the Games, which Wright says is ‘the hilliest I’ve ever seen’
Hong Kong’s triathlon team for next month’s Asian Games in Hangzhou are its best ever, head coach Andrew Wright said as the six-strong squad embarked on an advance trip to the mainland Chinese city.
A World Cup event, also staged in Hangzhou, is the reason for their early visit, with Hilda Choi Yan-yin, Bailee Brown and Wong Tsz-to – the backbone of the bronze medal-winning mixed relay team at the 2018 Games in Jakarta – being joined by Games debutants Oscar Coggins, Jason Ng Tai-long and Charlotte Hall.
To view it as a full dress rehearsal would be misleading, with the Games course being extremely hilly but a relatively flat route awaiting on Saturday. However, the World Cup race will pit them against China and Japan athletes who they expect to meet again next month – and Wright is relishing it.
“Without talking about medals, if you look at the group of athletes we gathered here, I’d say that’s the best team Hong Kong has ever filled at any Asian Games,” Wright said.
“What we can really do is, regardless of who’s racing or what happens, if we can replicate what we did in training on race day, perhaps slightly better, without making mistakes, then the results kind of take care of themselves.”
Fresh from a month of training in Spain, the group will undertake another weeks-long training camp in Phuket following the World Cup, before the added challenge of their return to Hangzhou.
