Coinciding with the start of the competitions, athlete Takumi Hogo presented his country, Japan (the host country), with the first gold medal in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, after being crowned today, Sunday, in the men’s individual triathlon.
Hugo started his race somewhat falteringly, as he emerged from the warm waters of Mikawa Bay in fourth place, then dropped to fifth place at the end of the cycling stage, before he rebounded strongly in the decisive running stage to snatch first place. Chinese Zhang Shirui finished second, nine seconds behind, to win the silver medal, while the bronze went to Kazakhstani Arlan Zhanabai, who finished the race an additional six seconds behind the second-place finisher.
After his coronation, Hugo, who had previously won gold in the mixed relay at the Hangzhou Games three years ago, said: “I was very excited until the rain stopped, and I was at my best until I stood on the starting line. I was planning to attack by exploiting my strengths until the end.” He added: “Since this is our first gold medal, it gave the Japanese delegation a really strong boost, and we succeeded in passing the baton to the women and our teammates in the relay team.”
In other race events, Uzbek Alexander Korichov topped the swimming stage as the first to emerge from the water, but he clearly declined during the cycling race to finish the competition in twentieth place.
It is noteworthy that the swimming competitions within the tournament began today, Sunday, at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
