South African’s Henri Schoeman bagged Africa’s first 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal in the Men’s Triathlon in Gold Coast Australia.
Schoeman, a bronze medal winner at the 2016 Rio Olympics upstaged England’s triathlon all conquering Brownlees brothers today morning in a time of 52:31.
The 26-year-old came out the swim leg third but managed to lose a few places during the transition to the cycling leg. He then surged away in the second lap of the run leaving everyone behind to claim the medal.
Asked whether he knew he would win with such a margin, Schoeman told the reporters he thought the other athletes were using some kind of strategy in the first round.
“I thought that the guys were maybe just taking it easy on the first lap, maybe to use the second lap to open-up.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“I just wanted to make sure I get my gap in the first lap and it just increased and increased, got bigger and bigger.”[/perfectpullquote]
he added.
Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle was second while Scotland’s marc Austin finished third. Schoeman’s South African compatriots Richard Murray (bronze medalist in Glasgow) and Wian Sullwald (Former World Youth Champion) finished 6th and 20th respectively.
Schoeman will have another chance to bag a second medal when he teams up with Murray, Gill Sanders and Simone Ackermann in the triathlon team relay.
In the women’s event, World Champion Flora Duffy claimed gold for Bermuda to end her country’s 20-year medal drought and become and become the Island’s first female champion. Canada’s Joanna Brown came in five seconds later to win the bronze despite breaking her shoulder in a bike crash last month.
Nineteen medals will be up for grabs today, the opening day and more than 4,000 athletes from over 71 nations and territories will be competing for a chance to raise their flags high.
Featured Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images
