Our Henri on his gold medal
JOHANNESBURG: Henri Schoeman’s title-winning performance at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games has been described as him “coming of age” which added to his Rio Olympic bronze medal from two years ago.
The classy customer won the 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run race with a time of 52 minutes and 31 seconds early yesterday morning.
Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle was second in 52.38 and Scotland’s Mark Austin third in 52.44.
“It means everything to me, you know two years ago an Olympic medallist and now two years later the Commonwealth champion,” Schoeman said.
“It’s such a fantastic feeling and I am just so happy that I could do this for my country, I could do this for supporters and most importantly for my family and my girlfriend.
“It is a dream come true and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
National triathlon coach Lindsey Parry said Schoeman snuffed out any doubt of his triathlon pedigree and he had no reason to stand back for anybody in the event.
“All round it was quite a dominant display from him and off the back of Abu Dhabi we can look at this year as his real coming of age year and the real force of triathlon,” Parry said from Australia. “He kind of felt since Rio he was in the shadows of the Brownlees (Alistair and Jonny) and he said in an interview as he
crossed the finish line that it feels like he has finally earned the right to step onto the top step.”
Schoeman produced one of his best running legs after turning in his customary strong swim leg and staying among the leaders on the cycle.
He is establishing himself as a true force given this result and his complete dominance in winning the Abu Dhabi leg of the World Triathlon Series (WTS) last month.
Schoeman became only the second male triathlete, after two-time Olympic champion Alistair, to win both the swimming and cycling events and go on to win a WTS title.
The 26-year-old Schoeman said he believed it was only a matter of time before he started to earn more podium finishes at major events.
“My time has been coming for some time and I just have to tick all the boxes as time goes on and I am gaining more experience,” Schoeman said.
“I definitely came to these Games a lot more relaxed than at my previous two (Glasgow 2014 and Rio 2016).
“I think I am a different athlete four years later, and the year has started off really well for me, the training has gone really well, and my body is really healthy.”
Compatriot Richard Murray took sixth place clocking 53.04 while former world junior champion Wian Sullwald finished 20th in a time of 56.30.
“I was pleasantly surprised about how well he (Schoeman) ran. On Tuesday we did a track session and it was the best I’ve ever seen him run so I knew he was capable of a special run, but I didn’t expect him to blow everyone away,” Parry said.
“At the end of the day he finished with the third fastest run split and it probably would have been a bit quicker if it wasn’t for the celebration down the chute.”
In the elite women’s event, Gillian Sanders finished in 15th place and decided to conserve her energy for the mixed-relay event tomorrow after an underpar swim. Simone Ackermann took a tumble on the bike leg and finished 18th. She also decided to save her strength for the relay.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Olympic silver medallist Jonny knew as soon as he dived into the water to start the men’s triathlon that it was not going to be his day.
Jonny, who also won the silver medal behind elder brother and double Olympic champion Alistair at the 2014 Glasgow Games, finished seventh yesterday.
Alistair was 10th as the brothers, who have been among the top contenders at global championships since 2011, faded badly on the run after they had led out a breakaway pack of six on the cycle leg of the sprint-distance event.
“It was pretty terrible today,” Jonny told reporters. “From start to finish I didn’t feel great, I had ups and downs.”
Both brothers had been hampered by injury heading into the Games and Alistair, who carried the England flag during the opening ceremony, said a calf injury had restricted him from doing any serious training at all.
“I hadn’t done enough to be fit enough on the run,” he said.
“I knew it was going to be tough when you haven’t actually run that fast for more than a minute or two at a time and, when you’ve got to do it for 15, it’s not going to go very well for you.”