ZIMBABWE'S junior men's triathlete ace Zander Botha and elite women's debutant Rachel O'Donoghue claimed gold and bronze medals respectively at the Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup in Nyanga yesterday.
On a day Triathlon Zimbabwe coach Pam Fulton described as a day of mixed emotions, Botha was the fastest junior man home, followed by Callum Smith in second, as the hosts dominated the podium.
Matthew Hildebrand another Zimbabwean finished fifth.
However, Zimbabwe's trump card, Andie Kuipers, gunning for Olympic points in her first race of the season, had a freak accident during the swim and had to be pulled out of the water. She did not finish the race.
O'Donoghue, the 15-year-old queen of the course from Chisipite High, exited the swim neck and neck with her older counterparts. She held on in the bike lap, charging down heavily behind the leading duo on the run to finish within eight percent of the winner's time.
Germany's Jule Behrens won gold in the elite women's category, with Japan's Himeka Sato coming in second.
"I had so much fun today,”O'Donoghue said. I think it was a really great experience for me, and fun to race against girls much stronger than me, which was really important.
“ I think I did learn from them that drafting in the swim is very important. I learned that staying with people was very beneficial to save myself for the rest of the race. And I just missed their wheels on the bike, but I think it was a great race,"
"The competition was tough. Very strong girls out there, and I really enjoyed racing against those stronger girls. I think I'm going to take a lot away from this race, and it's going to be very beneficial going forward. The weather was tough. The bike was definitely quite slippery, but overall I quite enjoyed it. My feet were super hot, and on top of that, amazing. It was so amazing."
Botha, fresh from a successful meet in South Africa where he finished sixth, ruled the roost in the Junior Men's Africa Triathlon Cup.
"It was a really wet event, so I had to be careful on my bike. I had a really good swim. Unfortunately, I got a bit tired halfway through, but I managed to deal with that. And I had a really, really strong run. So, overall, it was a very good race that I'm very proud of," said an ecstatic Botha.
"To me, it means that I know that I can compete against international athletes. It also helps me with my confidence in future big races like these in other countries, so I can represent my country. This is my first one at this level, but I have won in the 2025 lower age group, with four wins in a row."
Fulton, who had predicted Botha had a high chance of medalling, expressed her joy mixed with sorrow towards Kuipers' unfortunate incident.
"I think today has been a day of mixed emotions, fantastic to see Xander crossing the line in pole position, fantastic for Zimbabwe to be right up there to beat a really strong field. And then for Zimbabwe to also come second with Callum Smith, for Zimbabwe to take the top two podium places, that's really, really exciting for us," she said.
"I say mixed emotions because in the elite ladies' category, Andie and Rachel were racing there. This was going to be Rachel's debut elite race, coming up from the junior. She's still just 15 years old, racing under 19, so she came third overall, fantastic effort by her, and not too far behind the actual first elite lady.
"So I'm really, really proud of her. I would imagine she's within the 8% of the lady who won, so she should be getting elite ranking points, which is really exciting for such a young age."
On the downside, Fulton added, "Unfortunately, Andie, this was going to be really her first race of the season, and just to gauge where she is compared to the other ladies right early on in the season. She unfortunately experienced in the water... I'm not quite sure what it's called, but there's carbon dioxide that rises to the top of the water, just above the water, when the air and water temperature are cold," added Fulton.
"So when you are swimming fast, right from the beginning, all you are breathing in is carbon dioxide. So she ended up having to be pulled out of the water because she just couldn't get any oxygen in. But she's safe. She's fine. I think she's recovered. She's fine now. So I'm just so grateful that she's okay. Disappointing for her. Obviously, she really wanted to do well on home soil. But she departs on Tuesday to Namibia, where she'll be competing in another Africa Cup event. So she's going to have fresh legs now for the event."