By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
More Hayden Wilde, less Alex Yee. Again.
Triathlon’s great short course rivalry has surprisingly not played out for the second successive start with Wilde winning his second successive supertri race and for a third time overall in London overnight.
Wilde stretched away on the final run leg at West India Quay courtesy of a perfectly executed short chute boost to win by two and seven seconds from Matt Hauser and Léo Bergere respectively.
Olympic champion Yee (Brownlee Racing), meanwhile, was a disappointing 12th in his much-hyped homecoming race, claiming mental fatigue after his golden Paris Olympiad and Boston supertri efforts.
Back-to-back wins in Chicago and London will see Wilde (44 points) take a commanding lead into the final two rounds of supertri in Toulouse (Oct. 6) and Neom (Nov. 3) with Aussie Hauser second (35 pts) ahead of the tro of Frenchman Bergere, Japan’s Kenji Nener and Brit Yee tied on 27.
Like Wilde, Brit Georgia Taylor-Brown also made it a Chicago-London double overnight in the earlier women’s race. That was doubly good news for their Bahrain Victorious 13-backed Crown Racing team who are top of the table in the lucrative teams standings.
Crown Racing now top the leaderboard on 248 points ahead of Podium Racing on 240, Stars & Stripes on 183 and Brownlee Racing on 175 points. London is a happy hunting ground for the Kiwi No.1 who is determined to finish his year strong after his gutsy Olympic silver in Paris and Yee’s disrespectful arms folded finish in Boston. It’s so far, so good in supertri which bodes well for the two remaining World Triathlon Championship Series races in China and Spain and Wilde’s bid to finally win the WTCS.
“It’s the toughest course,” said Wilde after adding to his 2021 and 2022 wins at West Indua Quay.
.“If you’re on the front, you’re going hard. If you’re on the second wheel, you’re going hard. Matt [Hauser] and the [Podium Racing] guys applied the pressure on the last ride and made me work today – I thought like I was running in mud and had to push until the end. But I am stoked to get my third run here in London.”
Yee put a positive spin on his performance which strangely fell well short of his usual high standards.
“It wasn’t my day, but today was never about me racing well,” Yee said.
“It was about coming here to appreciate everyone who came out to watch. Racing well would have been a bonus. In the first triathlon I felt good, but the second run lap I started to struggle. But kudos to the guys for racing well and I’m so appreciative of the crowd for supporting and all their love.
“I’m mentally tired, I can’t lie, but I’m going to keep enjoying my racing.”
