Coetzee achieves his target

Namibia’s Drikus Coetzee achieved his personal target of finishing in the top 30 in the Commonwealth Games triathlon, when he finished the race in 25th position on Thursday afternoon.

Coetzee’s race strategy didn’t work out as planned, as he finished the swim 3 minutes behind the main group and starting the bike leg in 27th position out of 47 participants.

As a result he wasn’t able to fully utilize his strong cycling skills, as he ended up as a lonely fighter with just two companions and therefore unable to match the speed of the main group of 20 riders who opened up a gap ahead of them. 

The Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Johnathan from England, who were the pre-race favorites put on the pressure from the start and finished the swim in a leading group of four.

During the cycle leg South Africa’s Henri Schoeman dropped back after a crash and Scotland’s Marc Austin wasn’t able to keep up the pace set by the two brothers. With a comfortable one minute lead the Brownlee brothers headed into the run, confident to determine the gold medal winner between the two of them.On the second of three laps Olympic and European champion, Alistair, pulled away from his brother Jonathan and managed to maintain his lead all the way to the finish line, crossing it in a time of 1:48:50.

South African, Richard Murray, used his running strength to leave the main field behind and out of medal contention, claiming the bronze and the first medal for South Africa.

Murray commented after the race: ‘The crowd were amazing and they kept me going. For me this is very close to the London Olympics. I actually think the venue is better. It was a tough but fair course.’ 

In the women’s race England’s Jodie Stimpson won in a sprint for the line ahead of Kirsten Sweetland of Canada and Vicky Holland of England.

Coetzee, who received a scholarship from the International Triathlon Union to further develop his talent, will be traveling to Hungary on Monday where he will be training with the ITU development team and will then compete in the World Cup on 10 August.

‘Glasgow was only the second race outside Africa I’ve participated in, after competing in the European Cup two weeks ago. I am confident that today’s performance and my experience gained here in Glasgow is a great foundation from where I can take my performance to the next level,’ Coetzee commented. ‘I’m now looking forward to my World Cup race where I will be competing against 120 of the world’s best triathletes.’