Hong Kong triathlon boss blames Oscar Coggins’ struggles on pandemic, ‘partly down to me’
- Andrew Wright believes star athlete Coggins’ recent poor form stems from pandemic, saying ‘the amount of quarantine was borderline inhumane’
- Team investigating effects of Covid-19 vaccine on the 24-year-old with blood tests – ‘in the past two years when he got sick, it really whacked him’
Head coach Andrew Wright put star triathlete Oscar Coggins’ recent poor form down to two years of struggles during the pandemic – and has shouldered responsibility for the 24-year-old’s plight at this year’s Asian Games.
Coggins withdrew following the swimming leg of the individual event in Hangzhou, with Wright subsequently declaring he was “not in a good place right now, physically or mentally”.
Hong Kong’s best Olympic triathlon performer, after finishing 33rd in Tokyo, in 2021, Coggins has resumed training, with a view to being fit for the start of next season, but Wright said he would resist raising the subject of potential Olympic qualification with him.
Coggins suffered with illness at last year’s Asia Championships, and was again under the weather before September’s Asiad.
Wright said those setbacks were being investigated, and Asian Games preparations revisited, after Coggins was among the athletes at training camps in Spain and Thailand.
“I think Oscar’s issues stemmed from driving himself so hard during the pandemic,” Wright said.
