Hong Kong’s Oscar Coggins wins Asian Triathlon Championship and looks to book Olympic spot
- The 19-year-old shows he can more than hang at the top as he triumphs in South Korea
- Hong Kong-born Coggins’ is in his first year competing at the elite open level
Oscar Coggins sent a decisive message to the Asian triathlon world on Friday in South Korea.
The 19-year-old, who was born in Hong Kong but raised in England, took the 2019 Gyeongju ATSC Triathlon Asian Championships in South Korea, and burst onto the men’s radar in the process.
Coggins finished with a time of 1:50.34, beating Japan’s Takumi Hojo by 22 seconds. Coggins held off four Japanese athletes, all of them older. In his first year competing in the top division, the Hongkonger announced his arrival in definitive style. He will turn 20 on October 7, however the teenager beat out 39 athletes, 37 of whom were older than him.
Coggins said the win is still sinking in. “Yeah, on Saturday it felt not normal if that’s a good way to put it. Given how the race went down and looking back on what happened, I’m amazed at what I was able to do.”
Coggins had an interesting battle with Hojo throughout the race. The Japanese athlete led out of the swim and Coggins was eighth leaving the water, however the Hongkonger made up the ground as he finished first in the cycling and run portions of the race.
Coggins said he knew if he stayed close to the front after the swim he could make his move.