I WON’T HOLD A GOLD
MARC AUSTIN grabbed Scotland’s first medal on the Gold Coast – but passed up the chance to be the first to show off another major one yesterday.
The Scots triathlete showed up the Brownlee brothers with bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Now he’s targeting another gong in his home city when the first European Championships – split between Glasgow and Berlin – begin in August.
Austin was in George Square yesterday to mark 50 days until the showpiece for the unveiling BY ALAN ROBERTSON of the specially commissioned medals to be presented.
But asked if he’d tried out a medal, the 24-year-old said: “No, I didn’t want to.
“It just feels a bit strange to be touching a medal you haven‘t earned yet – even if it is for media purposes.”
Austin does at least have a Commonwealth bronze – the first of 44 to be won by Scotland Down Under – that will remain his regardless.
For the four years leading up to Gold Coast his name had regularly been recalled purely because it wasn’t Brownlee after joining Alistair and Jonny in a three-man breakaway at Glasgow 2014.
The brothers dropped him at the start of the final lap cycling around Strathclyde Park but the story of his showing followed him until he served up a new one 10,000 miles away.
On his 2014 heroics, which ended up with him finishing 22nd, he said: “I had done things which in my mind outshone it but no one seemed interested.
“So to have that medal now shows I have progressed from four years ago. To have it is a good feeling, I definitely didn’t want to have gone backwards.”
But modest Austin doesn’t entertain any notion he’s now on a par with the sibling stars of the sport.
He said: “Their performances in London and Rio are the two best triathlon performances of all time so I know that I’m not at that level yet.
“But they don’t get to that level that often. If they’re at their best they’re pretty difficult to beat but I’ll just stand on that start line with an attitude that I can podium in the race and if it happens that’s great but if not that’s sport.
“Any time you finish ahead of a Brownlee you will likely end up on a podium. If you go in with the aim of beating them you will do pretty well.
“But the level is so high and so well spread that there are so many people to look out for.”
But Marc is hoping a local crowd can help him stand out.
He said: “In a triathlon, which is such a gruelling event, your mind is playing games on you.
“A crowd just helps you shut all the negativity out and keep you on a positive roll.”