Ng leads pack as HK trio shine in sprint
Olympic hopeful Jason Ng Tai-long has swapped positions with Kazakh rival Ayan Beisenbayev after finishing fourth at the Asia Triathlon Sprint Championships at Dexing in Jiangxi province yesterday.
Compatriots Robin Elg and Mark Yu Shing-him finished sixth and eighth, a career-best result for both, as they crossed the finish line 13 and 30 seconds behind Ng, respectively.
With three from the city finishing in the top eight, head coach Andrew Wright labelled the men’s results as “solid”, but also rued technical errors that cost his teams points and positions.
“To have three boys in the top eight is a solid result,” Wright said. “But a few technical mistakes cost us better positions, it could have been [more] outstanding.
“Robin fell off his bike and lost his nutrition but managed to catch up and keep riding. This cost him on the run, though.”
In contention for the “new flag” qualifying berth to the 2024 Olympics – in which the top-ranked men’s and women’s triathlete whose country or region has not qualified for Paris will get a spot – Ng was sandwiched between Yu and Elg in sixth spot after his opening 750-metre swim.
The Hongkonger lost a bit of time over the 20.1km bike ride but pulled off a decent run, covering the 5km in 14 minutes 54 seconds, or averaging 2:58.8 minutes per kilometre. A finishing time of 54:27 minutes put the 24-year-old in fourth place, tied with his debut in June 2022 but two places short of his career-best second in Al-Khobar last November.
With Beisenbayev finishing more than two minutes behind in 20th place, Ng will overtake his rival when the rankings are updated today.
“We will wait for tomorrow as they will update the points list, but now there should be a reasonable gap between him and the Kazakh,” Wright said. “I’m delighted with Ng’s safe and well-executed race; also fitness is there across the board in most of our athletes.”
Nicholas Tsang Cheung-sing finished one place behind Beisenbayev, while Yip Tak-long and Lam Lok-shi came in at No 25 and No 29.
Home athletes Fan Junjie and Ma Yunxiang took two podium places with Takumi Hojo of Japan managing a runner-up finish.
Fan finished in 54 minutes and four seconds but there were only 13 seconds separating the podium takers.
In the women’s event, Bailee Brown finished seventh, her worst in three appearances, to set the pace for the city’s triathletes.
A technical mistake at the first transition doomed the 24-year-old to the bottom pack, though she managed to come back and finished just over half a minute behind outright winner Lu Meiyi of China, who finished in one hour, 44 seconds.
Japanese duo Miyu Sakai and Sarika Nakayama came in 15 and 19 seconds behind to complete the podium.
Brown’s main rival, Ekaterina Shabalina of Kazakhstan, finished in 14th place, almost 90 seconds behind.
Wright said it was “great” to beat the Kazakh but he also lamented the technical mistake that cost Brown “many” points and positions.
“Bailee couldn’t get her wetsuit off so [she] missed the bike pack,” he said. “It took her the whole bike [leg] to chase back and this significantly slowed her run.”
Cade Wright, who finished in 1:01.55, was the only other Hongkonger to finish in the top 10.
A few technical mistakes cost us better positions, it could have been [more] outstanding HK HEAD COACH ANDREW WRIGHT