Henri Schoeman nabs bronze for South Africa in Rio

A mammoth effort from South African triathlete Henri Schoeman saw him claim the bronze medal in the men's triathlon on the Copacabana course at the Rio Olympic games.

Schoeman stuck to the dominant Brownlee brothers of Great Britain like glue throughout the race coming out of the water metres behind the London medalists and holding his position with the leaders through the cycling portion.

Schoeman was the only member of that leading pack not to drop off the gold and silver medalists, and would see compatriot, Richard Murray finish behind him after a fantastic run saw him gain 11 places after the final transition.

Coming out of the swim Schoeman was within touching distance of the leaders and formed part of a ten-men lead group that would build a gap of a minute and a half over the chasing pack.

Murray would be left back in the second group of athletes sitting in 15th place as the cycling leg of the triathlon drew to a close.

As the 10km run began, the Brownlee brothers pulled away from the pack along with Frenchman Vincent Luis. Schoeman was left at the tail of what was now a chasing pack hoping the Brownlees would fade.

After one lap of the run, Schoeman managed to work through the pack still trailing the Brownlee brothers by ten seconds but sitting in the bronze medal position.

Murray made a late push and caught the tale end of the lead group overtaking early leaders America's Ben Kanute and Slovakian Richard Varga and pushing up to eighth a minute and twenty seconds behind the leaders.

Schoeman would cement third as he closed in on the final lap, building a 20 second lead on fourth place Frenchman Luis.

Meanwhile Murray scythed through the one-time leading pack moving up to sixth with one lap of the 10km run left to go.

Alastair Brownlee would claim the gold medal for the second consecutive games with his brother Johnny finishing just six seconds behind.

Schoeman claimed a remarkable bronze medal for South Africa crossing the finish line 42 seconds behind the leader. He was followed by the familiar face of teammate Richard Murray whose titanic finish saw him cut through the pack to finish fourth behind his compatriot.