It was a tough beginning for many on a brutal morning, where temperatures reached a humid 33 degrees Celsius, pushing the athletes to the limit across the 1,500m swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.

An absolutely WILD start to the men's triathlon.A TV boat with twin outboard motors was sitting in the way as the starting gun was fired, then tried to reverse out as the athletes dove into the water.It caused a race restart, but luckily no one was injured. pic.twitter.com/TKkPbaWNSK— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) July 25, 2021

Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt came out on top, breaking away from Britain’s Alex Yee (silver) and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde (bronze) late in the run to take the nation’s first gold medal in the event, in a time of 1:45:04.

Hong Kong’s Coggins was solid in his debut Olympics, the 21-year-old finishing 33rd, 3:51 behind the winner.

The event clearly took a huge toll on the triathletes, Blummenfelt purging himself soon after crossing the line and having to be taken away in a wheelchair, while a host of competitors collapsed in a heap after making it to the finish.

Other notable finishers include Kevin McDowell, who achieved the USA’s best result in the event by coming sixth – an incredible effort after being diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago.

Japan’s Nener Kenji was the highest-placed athlete from Asia, coming 14th in his hometown Games.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kwLG70a1moaeenHqsu82gZpqqpJ6wrbGObGhtamRufXDAzqSwqGWfocauvMicqmagn6O0brfOp56sZZ%2BosKK%2BjJymoJ%2BZo8Buf5Krm2aaoqrBoriMramimaSdubC6