Asia Sprint Championships: Hong Kong triathlete Hilda Choi seeks ‘new breakthrough’ after gruesome finger injury
- Race on Sunday will be her first triathlon of any distance since injuring and almost losing her left middle finger last September
- Also in the Hong Kong team are Bailee Brown and Yip Tak-long but Oscar Coggins misses out, replaced by Lam Lok-shi
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Veteran triathlete Hilda Choi Yan-yin is ready to put her frustrations behind her after making the cut for the Asia Sprint Championships in Dexing, China, this weekend.
It will be the Hongkonger’s first triathlon race, of any distance, since suffering a nasty injury that almost cost her the middle finger of her left hand last September.
The injury needed three surgeries to repair and robbed Choi of a third appearance at an Asian Games, but the 30-year-old said she felt as though she had “grown up a lot” because of her ordeal.
“Whether it’s about understanding, relaxing or adjusting my emotions, I was able to rediscover myself and understand what I want to do most,” Choi said.
And the 2018 Asian Games medallist, who took mixed relay bronze alongside Bailee Brown, Wong Tsz-to and Law Leong-tim in Jakarta, added she had “learned much more” about herself since the setback.
“My aim this year is to participate in more long-distance competitions because I want to find a new breakthrough in training,” she said.
“I had been practising for the sprints for a long time so switching between the Olympics version and the sprint version could bring something new to me, too.
“And it’s a good time to do so because there aren’t too many major events this year, but there’s the National Games [next year] and Asian Games [in Nagoya in 2026] coming up, so I can catch up slowly.”
Choi, who finished first in the selection race held after the city’s World Triathlon Cup last Sunday, also hinted at doing a half ironman, which is a combined distance of 70.3 miles (113 kilometres), and restated her ambition to take part in Nagoya.
While Choi will join the ranks of Brown, Charlotte Hall, Cade Wright, Tallulah Wright and Pauline Courret at the championships on Sunday, Oscar Coggins is set to miss out despite coming second to Yip Tak-long in the men’s selection.
It was the first race for the 24-year-old after failing to finish at last year’s Games in Hangzhou, leaving the event after the swim leg at Qiandao Lake.
Coggins was the fastest out of the water last Sunday and enjoyed a nine-second advantage over eventual winner Yip, but eventually finished 21 seconds behind, in one hour and 14 seconds.
Head coach Andrew Wright revealed it was a mutual decision to leave Coggins at home because the triathlete, “isn’t fit enough to be competitive at this moment”.
Taking Coggins’ place will be Lam Lok-shi, with Olympics hopeful Jason Ng Tai-long, Robin Elg, Mark Yu Shing-him, Nicholas Tsang Cheung-shing and Yip completing the list.
Ng will certainly be hoping for better luck after getting flat tyres in back-to-back races in Xiamen last November and in Hong Kong last week, while Elg, who finished ninth and 10th in the past two continental sprint championships, is eyeing a personal-best finish.
“I had a good race [at the World Cup] which went above expectations,” said the 22-year-old, who finished 23rd to become the city’s top performer.
“I think throughout the year it’s going to be better and better. Give me two years and I will be racing the top guys.
“I want to be Hong Kong’s No 1, consistently, because at the moment Ng is slightly better than me on the run.”
Elg said he expected to “have a very good race” at the Asia Triathlon Championships in Hatsukaichi, Japan on April 21, and is targeting top five finishes in both events.
