Stan second at World Triathlon in Cape Town
He was beaten to the line by Dylan Da Silva in the Open Para division.
South African Para-Triathlete Stan Andrews won silver medal last month when he participated in the International Triathlon Union’s Discovery World Triathlon Series in Cape Town.
With the Olympic distance triathlon cancelled due to low water temperatures, the athletes could only participate in the Sprint distance event.
“The Olympic triathlon was on the Saturday but the water was nine degrees celsius which is too cold so unfortunately it was cancelled. Overnight warmth and a decent ambient temperature made the water marginally warmer for the sprint distance event the following day,” said Stan.
In the water, Stan led the 500 metre swim and completed it in 7m40s which allowed him an easy Transition 1 from the water into the bicycle.
“I knew that the pressure was on to maintain this gap but Dylan managed to catch up on the cycle and closed the gap. He stayed with me throughout the cycling part of the race and we were neck to neck as we went into transition two together,” said Stan.
After exiting the transition 20 seconds behind Dylin for the running part of the race, Stan had to watch out for the athletes who were behind him.
“With third and fourth place starting to slowly catch up from behind, I knew I had to utilise all my energy left in the tank for the run,” he said.
Dylan was still in the lead after five kilometres. Stan managed to close the gap to 10 seconds as he entered the final stretch but was unable to catch Dylan. Rounding out the top three positions was Hein Wagner.
Stan is currently participating in the Nedbank Disabled Golf Open at Zwartkop Country Club, Pretoria. He will be participating in the Leg Amputee Nett Division Stroke-play.
Later today after the golf tournament, Stan will jet off to Egypt where he will represent South Africa at the African Continental Para Tri Championships in his category – PT4.
Andrews will be aiming for gold to bring him closer to top 10 worldwide in his category which will have him one step closer to qualifying for the World Para Tri Championships in Chicago later this year.
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