Dark horse status in Paris gives ‘me a lot of power’ — Henri Schoeman

Henri Schoeman flew into Paris under the radar this week in the same way he did at Rio 2016, where he surprised the field with South Africa’s first triathlon medal, and that’s exactly where he wants to be.

The bronze eight years ago announced his arrival and Schoeman went on to win the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold in one of the most impressive performances of his career.

Then came Tokyo, where he suffered an ankle injury shortly before but competed anyway, not realising he had a hairline stress fracture that cracked through in the race. 

“Since Tokyo with the injury, it’s been a pretty rough rollercoaster,” said Schoeman, whose wife Franzel is due to give birth to their son the day after the Games finish.

“Breaking the ankle in the race at Tokyo Olympics, then finally getting a surgery to fix it with pins to compress the fracture six months down the line.

“Then the recovery process after the surgery [and] the doubts of whether I’ll get back to this kind of level to be able to compete again, it was pretty tough mentally, physically.”

Schoeman returned to the world series last year.

“There were some good moments, there were some bad moments, but mostly learning a lot about how the sport has shifted slightly and also about what I need to work on.”

He no longer feels the pressure of expectation in the way he did going into Tokyo.

“I’m focusing on myself, kind of like that dark horse again and I love that and I feel like it’s giving me a lot of power. I’m hoping to surprise a few people.”

Schoeman and his wife, who have two-year-old daughter Lilya, are expecting their son on August 12.

The plan is to race on Tuesday and race home to be with Franzel, but the quality of the water in the Seine where he and Jamie Riddle will be racing for South Africa has muddied the waters for the event.

A reserve date of August 2 has been set for the triathlon and failing that the event will be transformed into a duathlon.

The 1.5km swim is one of Schoeman’s strengths, though at his peak he was strong on the 40km cycle and 10km run.

Now 32, Schoeman, sees Paris as his final Olympic swing as he eyes the longer distance events like half Ironman, where the swim is 1.9km, the cycle 90km and the run a half-marathon.

“I’m going to start transitioning over to the middle distance and longer distance. I feel like I’m starting to excel quite well in that distance, so I think I’m going to put the short course behind me after this.

“You get the Ironmans, like the 70.3, and there's the new race series, T100 [triathlon world tour].”

Schoeman has tasted different extremes at his two Olympics and this time he’s enjoying the idea of going to Paris with an open mind.

“I’ve got both spectrums of having Rio with an unforgettable memory and then you get Tokyo where it’s a devastating memory.

“I go into Paris open-minded, taking it all in with all the opportunities in the world.”