Africa Triathlon

South African Triathlon is at an all time high! Henri Schoeman and Richard Murray just rewrote the history books for Triathlon South Africa by claiming a 3d and 4th position respectively at the Rio Olympic games for Elite men in Triathlon.

Schoeman started out well in the Swim leg. He exited the water in 7th position, 7 seconds from Varga’s lead. That put Schoeman out in the lead group of 10 Athletes on the bike leg. Murray followed 48 seconds later out of the swim. He started out in the second chase group on the bike leg. On lap 3 of 8 they managed to catch up to the first chase group. Now 31 men in the first chase group were trying to catch up to the lead group of 10 (also featuring Schoeman). The lead group worked together beautifully. Murray and the rest of the chase group were trying desperately to close the gap of 1min17sec to the lead group of still 10 athletes on lap 5 of 8. The main chase group managed to reel the front group in with 3 minutes by the end of lap 7.

Schoeman was out in 6th onto the run leg. He managed to push himself into the top four. He was now chasing the two Brownlee brothers in position 1 and 2 and Vincent Luis in 3d. Luis started to drop back. Schoeman kept fighting back and managed to overtake Luis into third. Murray started the run leg with a 1min24sec deficit in 28th position. Murray managed to eat into that gap and start closing the gap to Schoeman, where Schoeman was still positioned in 3d place.

Schoeman claimed the bronze medal as he crossed the finish line in a time of 1hr45min43sec. He was 36 and 42 seconds respectively from the two Brownlees’ 1st and 2d positions. Team mate and RSA medal hope, Murray, made the impossible happen by managing to cross the finish line a mere 7 seconds behind Schoeman in 4th position. He exceeded all expectations after having started the run leg with a 1min24sec deficit.

Schoeman are now the first South African athlete to have claimed a medal for Triathlon South Africa and also Africa. Having never claimed a medal at a WTS event Schoeman took the world by storm by now claiming a podium at the Olympics!

Schoeman: “Olympic Bronze medalist ! Words cannot describe the feeling. History made as first South African and African to medal in Triathlon. Thank you to everyone back home screaming in front of the TV and supporting !!”

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