Hong Kong’s Elg racing under ‘team orders’, but eyes personal best at Asia Triathlon Sprint Championships
- Robin Elg has been tasked with helping teammate Jason Ng chase Olympic qualifying points at this weekend’s event
- But Elg has ambitions of his own in Dexing on Sunday, and is targeting a spot in the top eight
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Triathlete Robin Elg is confident he can beat his personal best at this weekend’s Asia Sprint Championships, despite falling ill after the World Cup last month.
Elg said he had been struck down for a few days after the race in Hong Kong, but the overall experience had been good for judging his fitness levels.
While the Hongkonger is tasked with helping teammate Jason Ng Tai-long chase Olympic qualification points in mainland China on Sunday, he said his own expectations were much higher than previously and he would be disappointed to not improve on his past results.
“If I race at my capabilities, I can aim to make a top eight and even a top three if there is a breakaway on the bike,” he said.
The 22-year-old finished ninth and 10th in his previous two Asia Sprint Championships in Al-Khobar and Sejong, but was “very confident” and knows what needed to be done if he was to achieve a career-best finish in Dexing.
“Considering that the run is my weakness after a few months of being injured, I need to get away after the swim to be able to make a podium,” he said. “But that’s only if there is a breakaway which is something hard to make [in a sprint championship].
“I was coming back from injury and didn’t run for six weeks before the race last year [in Saudi Arabia] so I wasn’t expecting to be in the top 10.
“If I don’t improve, it will be a disappointment and will have to see what I did wrong, but I am confident in doing my best result.”
Despite carrying a shin injury, Elg still finished 23rd in last month’s elite race, and head coach Andrew Wright said the Asian Under-23 Championships winner had learned his lesson from last year.
“He is a young guy so he overdid it a little bit in terms of his running because he’s so motivated,” he said. “Sometimes we caught him doing extra things that he shouldn’t be doing and he got shin problem because of that.
“But I think he learned his lesson and now he’s being a bit more strategic with how he trains.”
With Ng needing to close the gap with Kzakhstan’s Ayan Beisenbayev in the battle to qualify for the Olympics, Elg said he would be racing under “team orders”, but that would not dull his own ambitions.
“He’s the one racing for the Olympics, and until Paris I will kind of help him to get the slot in order to have the funding for the coming four years from the government,” Elg said.
“I have some race scenarios where I need to help, but in others I can race my race if he is too far from me after the swim.”
