Austin motors to bronze ahead

● Scotland’s first Gold Coast medal comes courtesy of the untipped Austin

Marc Austin unexpectedly became the first Scottish medallist of Gold Coast 2018, claiming a bronze in the men’s triathlon which was as remarkable for his own achievement as those who were left trailing behind.

The 24-year-old jostled for the lead with Alistair and Jonny Brownlee four years ago in Glasgow beneath scorching sunshine, only for his bid to cruelly evaporate.

This time, it was the illustrious siblings whose challenge melted unexpectedly away, with Austin holding off Australia’s Matt Hauser in a charge for the line by just two seconds to insert himself on to the podium.

“I knew I was capable of it,” said the Stirling-based prospect, who was 13 seconds adrift of South African gold medallist Henri Schoeman, with home hope Jacob Birstwhitle claiming silver.

“I was obviously scared to dream about that kind of thing because it’s way beyond what I’ve done before. But coming in, I knew my form was really good. I was really happy to cross the line with no glitches and an empty tank.”

The younger Brownlee was marooned in seventh with Alistair’s defence of his title imploding at the outset of a run stage which had whittled the contenders down to a group of six. “I just haven’t done enough training,” he acknowledged.

Austin looked visibly spent over the concluding kilometre but had just enough reserves to cash in. And the former world junior silver medallist, in a time of 52 minutes and 44 seconds, scampered up the blue carpet before exhaling in relief.

“It’s just confidence and knowing what your skills are,” said Austin, whose colleague Grant Sheldon struggled to 17th. “There is still work to do before I can do that on a regular basis but I am just loving what I am doing right now. It’s such a good sport.”

In the women’s race, Beth Potter was 12th, an admirable outcome given her steep learning curve since opting to abandon the safe terrain of the athletics track 16 months ago and plunge into triathlon.

Still, the 26-year-old Glaswegian felt better had been possible. An awkward transition from swim into bike doomed her chances as the pack sped clear and cast her mercilessly adrift.

By the end, she was precisely three minutes behind Flora Duffy, who briefly had Bermuda atop the overall medal standings as the pre-race favourite left England’s Jess Learmonth and Canada’s Joanna Brown in her wake with a relentless run toward gold.

“I’m still learning,” Potter admitted. “I worked hard on the bike with the other girls, they are all on the world triathlon circuit. It all just

0 Stirling-based Marc Austin grits his teeth and goes for it, running, cycling and swimming his way to a bronze medal and leaving the happens so quickly, there is no time to think. There are so many things and they all have to happen in the right order.

“I was trying to get with the leading pack, I was a little bit too distracted with that, and I just kind of mucked it up a lit-

MARC AUSTIN tle bit. I am really gutted about that but I felt really good on the run, I felt like I closed quite a big gap on the run, and my legs felt good again.”

All three will join up again on Saturday morning in the mixed team relay with teenage prospect Erin Wallace set to complete the Scottish quartet. “I’m looking forward to being in the same event as the Brownlee brothers,” the 17-year-old said.

“I really admire them because they’ve been at the top of this for so long. I’d love something like that.”

“I was obviously scared to dream about that kind of thing because it’s way beyond what I’ve done before”