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Paul McNamara

Oscar Coggins said he had “mixed feelings” after Hong Kong claimed Asian Games triathlon mixed-relay bronze on Monday, as the Tokyo Olympian wrestled with self-recriminations over his flat individual performance 24 hours earlier.
Fancied by head coach Andrew Wright to challenge for gold, Coggins came home in a “very disappointing” seventh place on Sunday.
Described by teammate Bailee Brown as “the most dedicated person” in the city squad, the 26-year-old buried his angst long enough to summon a characteristically full-throttle second leg at the Gamagori City Triathlon Venue, helping Hong Kong take relay bronze for the third straight Games.
Pursuing the podium spot that would preserve triathlon’s Tier A Hong Kong Sports Institute status for at least four more years, Wright sent out the 2025 National Games silver medal quartet of Cade Wright, Coggins, Brown and Robin Elg.
Unused squad member Wong Tsz-to took aim at his exclusion on social media, intimating that he believed the selection process lacked transparency.
“From the three selection rounds for the Asian Games, all the way to the final squad announcement, it remained unknown whether I’d get to compete,” Wong wrote.

“Every time, the answer was ‘I don’t know’. And I don’t know the criteria
“This isn’t the first time this has happened; there are others who don’t even have to meet the requirements.”
China won gold in one hour, 25 minutes and 54 seconds, while silver went to hosts Japan in 1:26:45. Hong Kong stopped the clock on 1:27:25.
An individual National Games bronze medallist last year, Coggins said: “I have very mixed feelings because yesterday was very disappointing, and I’m struggling. It was just a job that I had to do today. I haven’t had a chance to really process [the individual race] yet.
“I really wanted to take some pressure off the team today, for yesterday. I was able to make up for that in some sense, and just get us back into a medal position. I don’t want to be a downer, because we did [secure a] medal.”
Ahead of competing in the under-23 World Triathlon Championship Finals in Spain on Friday, Cade Wright came into the relay comparatively fresh, after she sat out the individual women’s race, where twin sister Tallulah competed instead and finished 10th.
After a year in which a number of the Hong Kong contingent have been managing injuries, Cade Wright, who is no relation to her coach, said the “main goal today was to have four healthy athletes and to be as fit as possible”.
“We felt the pressure this year to push in every training, and to see how much our bodies could handle.
“A lot of us got hit with overtraining, and we had to work on our nutrition.”
Coggins advanced Hong Kong from fifth to third during his turn over the 0.3km swim, 6.6km bike and 2km run course.
Eighth in the individual women’s race, third-leg athlete Brown handed over to Elg well adrift of the Chinese and Japanese athletes, but neck-and-neck with South Korea.
Also part of Hong Kong’s bronze medal teams in 2018 and 2023, Brown, who only recently recovered from a stress fracture of a shin, said: “It’s been a really tough year … we’re always trying to push it to our limits, and it showed. I think we all want to lift, but it’s about finding that balance.”
Elg’s has been a remarkable tale of grit since the National Games 10 months ago. While his teammates staged overseas camps to prepare for Gamagori, Elg was condemned to staying alone in Hong Kong to use an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill because of a persistent stress problem in his fibula that would not allow him to run on hard surfaces.
He emerged from his competitive hibernation to finish sixth in the individual competition, then on Monday shook off South Korea to ensure his sport did not return home empty handed.
“I think I handled the pressure pretty well,” Elg said.

“Oscar and I wanted to take pressure off from yesterday, [when] we both had pretty average days. Being able to bounce back and contribute to the medal count is a very special thing.”
Other than Cade Wright’s pursuit of global honours later this week, Andrew Wright’s squad will next compete in their home Triathlon World Cup on November 7 and 8. Their primary remaining 2026 target is the Asia Triathlon Sprint Championships in Jordan, in late November, where a worthwhile helping of Olympic qualifying points will be up for grabs.
“I know how hard all these guys work,” Brown said. “Oscar is the most dedicated on the team, and Robin is so dedicated, even when he had so much adversity this year.
“The bronze [means] more than just third place. When we hurt, or when someone on the team hurts, we all hurt. When somebody has a victory, we all celebrate, and I’m just really glad that we got to do that today.
“I know how talented they all are. All I have to do is put my faith in them, and our coach, who has trained us for so long.”


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Hong Kong’s bronze medallists (from left) Bailee Brown, Cade Wright, Oscar Coggins and Robin Elg at the Asian Games. Photo: Sam Tsang

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Sport

Hong Kong

Oscar Coggins acknowledges ‘mixed feelings’ as city quartet claim third straight Asiad bronze, athletes hail spirit after injury battles


Oscar Coggins acknowledges ‘mixed feelings’ as city quartet claim third straight Asiad bronze, athletes hail spirit after injury battles.


Hong Kong triathlon star tempers Asian Games medal joy as he wrestles with individual blow

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Oscar Coggins acknowledges ‘mixed feelings’ as city quartet claim third straight Asiad bronze, athletes hail spirit after injury battles

Oscar Coggins acknowledges ‘mixed feelings’ as city quartet claim third straight Asiad bronze, athletes hail spirit after injury battles