Africa Triathlon

Asian triathletes are continuing to improve on the world stage and now the Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) has a plan to help even more talented junior and U23 athletes move up the pathway.

In the week after Korea’s Min Ho Heo claimed his best result at an ITU World Cup with fifth in Tongyeong, the next generation of triathletes gathered together as the ATSC and the ITU hosted a junior and Under23 training camp with a difference in Seogwipo, Jeju, Korea from October 16 to 23.

A total of 13 athletes and five coaches from four Asian countries trained under the supervision of expert coaches, Canada’s Luc Morin and Austalia’s Dan Atkins, at the Seogwipo Dong-a Marathon Center on Jeju Island, Korea.

The talent on show was impressive and ASTC Sport Development Coordinator, Ki, Woo Kyong from Korea, said it was because they had put into place a strategy that meant athletes had to meet certain standards to attend.

“This year level of participants’ performance is higher than last year because we introduced a high performance requirement for the athletes,” he said.

ITU Development Director Libby Burrell, said that athlete development camps such these are a great learning opportunity for coaches and athletes alike, and that this plan would no doubt show itself with more Asian triathletes on top of ITU podiums around the world.

“This year the ASTC took a high performance approach for their annual camp using strict standards for selection of participants in the hope that these identified athletes will represent the new generation of Asian triathlon stars on the world stage,” Burrell said. “This is the first of several future camps where the progress of these athletes will be monitored and developed.  ASTC has the athletes with the talent to win medals at major events and this project is just one of the many ways they plan to do just this.”

In the camp, training sessions focused on advanced skill development and technical efficiency to help the selected athletes build up an excellent performance foundation, while athletes were also put through their paces with tests to determine strengths and limitations in their performance.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for us to learn about diverse triathlon coaching techniques and methods through this camp. The two ITU coaches enlightened us young coaches on how to apply our knowledge to specific training sessions,” said Lee, Haeng Joon from Korea.

“It has been a wonderful experience as a coach at this camp. I really appreciate hard work and efforts of two ITU coaches who shared their experience and knowledge with us,” said Manrique Reyes from the Philippines.

For more information on ITU development please click here.