Wilde Race at 2022 WTCS Leeds for Olympic Ranking Points
No-one foresaw the men’s race was going to be such a wild affair in more ways than one as Kiwi Hayden Wilde ran his way to victory at the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds.
The best male triathletes of the world assembled in Roundhay Park in Leeds, for the second round of the World Triathlon Championship Series, the first one that gives points for the Olympic Ranking for Paris 2024.
In the men’s Sprint distance race it was a disastrous day for the British Olympic Medallists Alex Yee and Jonny Brownlee who both crashed out of the race on the bike section with the eventual winner Hayden Wilde openly admitting he probably was at fault for the bike incident. Certainly, the choice words from Jonny Brownlee to the Kiwi would suggest it was.
Equally disastrous and more so embarrassing was two-time world champion Vincent Luis poor counting skills that led to a calamitous outcome. The Frenchman having built up a 30 second lead on the final lap of the bike section thought he still had one more lap to go and approached the T2 entry point at speed and crashed into the barriers instead of dismounting. This incident lost him the time he had gained and also, he incurred a time penalty all of which probably lost him the race that was there to be won. If he had a point to prove having come back from injury which ruined his golden dream of Olympic gold – this was most defiantly not it.
So, the men’s race was a mixed-bag of events. It was clear that the game plan from the French athletes was to take the race from the front from the outset and keep the running talent of Yee, Brownlee, Murray and Wilde at bay in the run leg. And the plan appeared to be working as Luis, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre all exited the water within 4 seconds of the leader Hungarian Márk Dévay.
Into the bike section and it was the French pair of Luis and Bergere who laid down the marker breaking away and building up a 15 second lead by the end of lap one of five from a large chasing pack of over 30 athletes. It was disaster though for Brownlee and Yee as well as Kevin McDowell (USA) and Dylan McCullough (NZL) who were all involved in the bike incident climbing the hill out of T1. The French duo were 30 seconds up as they headed to T2 but only Bergere (who was counting his laps) was the beneficiary of their hard work with Luis race and podium hopes all but over.
Onto the 5k run and Bergere keep a steady pace and was still heading the chasing pack on lap one of two. But on the final 2.5k it was Hayden Wilde who was making big inroads to overtake Bergere whose legs may have been heavy after such a push on the bike section.
Hayden reached the blue carpet 100m ahead of Bergere to take the win in a time of 00:53:18 with the gallant Frenchman holding onto second place to take silver with a delighted Lasse Lührs of Germany running through in a photo finish with Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca to take third spot and his first ever medal at this level. Credit to Vincent Luis for not giving up the ghost and running through to take 10th place.
The big shout out of the day must go to Richard Murray – now representing his new found nation of the Netherlands – coming into a world class race and gaining 7th place so shortly after recuperation being diagnosed with the heart condition Atrial Fibrillation prior to the Tokyo Olympic. Let’s be under no illusion receiving such a diagnosis would have been physically and mentally challenging in equal proportions and shows the courage and conviction of the great man. Welcome back Richard, your journey has been inspirational.
Top 10 Mens Results
- 1. Hayden Wilde (NZL) – 53:18
- 2. Léo Bergere (FRA) – 53:28
- 3. Lasse Lührs (GER) – 53:38
- 4. Vasco Vilaca (POR) – 53:38
- 5. Lasse Nygaard Priester (GER) – 53:42
- 6. Michele Sarzilla (ITA) – 53:53
- 7. Richard Murray (NED) – 53:57
- 8. Jelle Geens (BEL) – 53:59
- 9. Antonio Serrat Seoane (ESP) – 54:00
- 10. Vincent Luis (FRA) – 54:0
Full results here:
