Four Hongkongers set for final World Triathlon Cup leg in Japan next month, but Coggins eyeing China race after injury wrecks Korean venture
Oscar Coggins is facing a battle to save his 2024 season after a calf problem forced the 25-year-old to withdraw during Saturday’s World Triathlon Cup race in South Korea.
Tokyo Olympian Coggins was Hong Kong’s only representative in Tongyeong, after illness prevented Mark Yu Shing-him and Bailee Brown from competing in the men’s and women’s races, respectively.
Coggins has been accelerating his comeback after stepping away from competition for eight months following last September’s Asian Games in Hangzhou. A promising performance in last month’s World Triathlon Championship Series race in Weihai, where he was shoulder to shoulder with 2024 Olympic silver medallist Hayden Wilde for a long period before coming home 25th, was followed by a fourth-placed finish in Hong Kong’s Asia Triathlon Cup leg a fortnight ago.
Coggins spoke after his home race about wanting to see out the year with a sequence of performances that reflected the “really strong fitness level” he had attained.
However, an increasingly busy schedule perhaps caught up with him when he strained a calf muscle during the first lap of the 10-kilometre run in Korea.
“It was a bit of a shocker,” said Andrew Wright, the Hong Kong head coach. “It was so frustrating but Oscar made the right call to pull out before he did any serious damage to himself.”
Wright said his athlete was “doing all right” before injury struck. Coggins, who delivered Hong Kong’s best Olympic triathlon result when he finished 33rd in Tokyo at the age of 21, covered the 1,500-metre swim in 17 minutes and 34 seconds – the 16th-quickest time among the 49-man field.
