Hong Kong triathlete suffers ‘insane’ nerves before city team claim National Games silver

Bailee Brown said she had suffered from “insane” nerves before claiming silver with the Hong Kong mixed relay team following a roller coaster race on Sunday.

Shandong emerged victorious from a monumental battle for gold, finishing 11 seconds quicker than the city quartet in one hour, 24 minutes and five seconds.

Robin Elg, who delivered Hong Kong’s quickest leg going second, said the result had validated the coaching methods of Andrew Wright, the head coach “who has had a lot of criticism from people not happy with how they were being trained”.

“This same team two years ago would not have been on the podium but because of Andrew’s training we fought with the strongest teams,” Elg said.

Brown, who was on leg three, had struggled in Saturday’s individual race before a punctured bike tyre forced her withdrawal. She said her fitness had let her down and the episode had led her to question whether a torrid, injury-hit year was destined to finish on another low note.

“My nerves were insane, I was crying and shaking, and I was up three times in the night thinking about our relay order,” Brown said.