Namibian triathlete, Abrahm Louw finished second in the elite category of the 2011 Singapore ITU Triathlon Asian Cup event, which was held over the weekend.
Louw finished the race with a time of 1:52.51, behind the overall winner Harunobu Sato from Japan who crossed the finish line in a time of 1:51.59. Bryce McMaster from Australia was third when he finished in 1:54.07.
Louw who is also the U23 African champion, finished the 1.5km swim second in 18.14 behind McMaster who got out of the water two seconds faster.
The 19 year old then took the lead on the bike when he completed the 40km stage in 58.49 with Sato two minutes behind him.
It was during the 10km run that Louw was overtaken by Sato who finished the stage in 32.26 while Louw finished the run in 35.48.
“I came out of the water first with the Australian athlete but I managed to drop him fast on the bike and rode the 40km solo, creating a 2 minute and 30 second gap. I was running in the lead until the last 1.5km when my legs were really sore and I was passed by the Japanese athlete just before the end of the run,” Louw said about his performance.
Louw, who is still not ranked on the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championship Series Ranking, said the race did not have a very strong field.
“It was only the Asian Cup, which is similar to the African Cup, European Cup and the American Cup. It does not have a very strong field but is still really hard racing.”
“One has to accumulate enough points through these races before you get on the start list of the bigger races. After that you get the World Cup races then the World Championship series races,” Louw explained.
To get a ITU ranking one has to be taking part in the ITU World Cup or the World Championship series.