It had been a long period of acclimatization in the UAE leading up to the race, and Hayden Wilde was able to banish mixed memories of WTCS Abu Dhabi to take a scintillating sprint finish over Australia’s Matt Hauser.

Wilde had to claw back 30 seconds out of the water and he did so in style, reeling in the leaders and then even skewering the field late on in a three-man breakaway that didn’t quite stick. The legs were still very much there to shake off first Vasco Vilaça then Hauser to take the gold.

'I just went out there and had a bit of fun, you know,' said a delighted WIlde. 'I feel like this is my second home, I've been here for about three or four weeks and, you know, they just welcomed me in with open arms and I've just been loving it here. I got a breakaway with my breakaway mate again and it didn't really stick, but we had good fun out there!'

'I've raced Matt over the 5K many times and I saw his coach and he was like, “one more push!” and I'm like, I know, I know for sure he's got one more push, so I just had to hold the pace on, and he was coming hot, and I was just happy to hold on. But with Matt, Morgan, all those guys, I know I had to push hard on the bike to drop a few of the good runners and it looks like we did that and got away.'

The brand-new sprint-distance course packed plenty of surprises, not least a strong right-to-left current and bright glare to cope with on the 750m swim. Hauser took it all in his stride, slicing his way to the first buoy with Hidalgo on his feet, the single-file field saying it all about the pace.

That pair was followed out by Miguel Tiago Silva and the rising German bullet Henry Graf, Dutch duo Ian Pennekamp (on debut) and Mitch Kolman also well set, Wilde half a minute back with Adrien Briffod and Charles Paquet.

By the end of lap one the gap was 13 seconds, Jonas Schomburg also enjoying the ride, by the end of lap two, Wilde was almost onto Stapley, Hauser and Kolkman, by lap three he was leading the pack back past the crowds.  

He was able to roll the dice along with Simon Westermann and Tjebbe Kaindl and the trio carved out a useful gap before Vilaça and Hauser dug in to close it off, Ben Dijkstra also going well on his Series debut and upfront into T2.

Very soon it was the Wilde-Hauser-Vilaça trio with daylight to the chasers and that gap just edged further out at each split. Over 10 seconds at the bell, that was also when Vilaça started to drop off and then it was the Aussie and Kiwi shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Down the penultimate straight one last time with the wind at their backs, it was then that Wilde seized the moment decisively, breaking the Hauser challenge with a surge. The Australian never let up and it was full gas to the line, only two seconds separating the men at the finish, 18s back to Vilaça and an outstanding finish from Graf saw him into fourth a fraction ahead of Adrien Briffod.

Another excellent result from Ricardo Batista in sixth, followed by Spain’s Roberto Sanchez, Dijkstra, U23 World Champion David Cantero with a 14m05s run split the fastest by 8 seconds and Miguel Hidalgo.  

Christchurch’s Mike Phillips was the top Kiwi at Saturday’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship men’s race in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, crossing the line in 17th position.

Phillips completed the 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42.2km run in 8:01:11, with Germany’s Patrick Lange claiming his third world title.

Phillips was 31st out of the water, working his way up to 26th position by the end of the run. Once on the marathon Phillips got to work, chipping away to eventually finish 17th.

Fellow Kiwi Ben Hamilton was 25th on his IRONMAN World Championship debut, finishing in 8:09:35.

“It was pretty tough, but it was pretty awesome, I learnt a lot,” said Hamilton. “The swim was ok, I had to ride pretty hard and think I did equal best power on the bike in challenging conditions. First half of the run I was feeling ok and then forgot to fuel in the Energy Lab and had a couple of tough moments coming out before I pulled it back together. I’m really proud.”

The Aucklander took a lot from his first visit to the biggest stage in the sport.

“It’s a great experience to know what you’re up against on the global stage against some of the very best in the world,” he said. “I learnt what Kona’s like, some not easy conditions but not as hot on the bike as what I expected. Just a lot of lessons that I can hopefully take forward for future years.”

Hamilton was joined in Hawai’i by family and friends with their support getting him through the 226km race.

“It gave me a boost every time, it was pretty cool seeing them out there even though I didn’t really say much to them as I ran past but I knew they were giving me their all,” he said.

Braden Currie was 28th, with the Wanaka native having a tough day out on course.

“It was not pretty out there, I really, really battled on the bike all day, I don’t really know, maybe the head just wasn’t in the game and I was struggling to find the power and hang on. I ran fine, I felt fine on the run. I’m gutted but it is what it is,” said Currie. “I think I had the thought that this will probably be the last time I do this run so I’d better get it finished so I stuck it out.”

The upcoming Ironman 70.3 Taupō race on Saturday 9 December is set to be fiercely contested, with a strong line-up of professional triathletes, including two-time winner Braden Currie, Javier Gomez, and 2019 champion Kyle Smith, competing for the title.

Currie, who is yet to qualify for the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupō, is hoping to secure a qualifying spot at the event.

Gomez, who is currently on the comeback trail after a year of injury, is looking to end 2023 on a high note before turning his attention to his race schedule for 2024.

While Smith, who has already qualified for the World Championship in Ireland earlier this year, is looking ahead to next December with excitement.

A signature run for New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde was enough to grant the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist the victory at the World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama, on a morning that saw a dramatic sprint finish for the rest of the positions on the podium. And it was Australia’s Matthew Hauser the one that found the final speed to claim his second WTCS podium, while Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca managed to keep the third place, enough to make him the new Series leader.

It was Vasco Vilaca the one wearing the number 1 swimcap today in Yokohama, with another 59 men lining up along with him on the pontoon for the second race of the WTCS Series in 2023, this time with slightly better weather conditions than the women. The water was still just below 20 degrees, but all of them decided to wear a wetsuit for the 1500m on two laps in the Yokohama Bay, and it was Hungary’s Mark Devay the fastest on the day on the water.

He managed to push hard enough on the swim to strecht the field behind him, with Dylan McCullough (NZL), Jonas Schomburg (GER), Hauser, Kenji Nener (JPN), Leo Bergere (FRA) and Dorian Coninx (FRA) trying to open a bit of space, but a long line of athletes followed them onto transition, including the likes of Marten Van Riel (BEL) or Hayden Wilde (NZL), who had one of the best swims of the last months. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), on the other hand, didn’t have his best day on the swim, and was almost 30 seconds down on the swim, but even in a worst situation was his teammate Gustav Iden, second to last out of the water.

It was clear that it would be a large train of athletes managing the 40km on the bike, and from the first moment Wilde, Bergere and Coninx took their position up front, trying to stay away of trouble, even though the clouds were a bit less thick than during the women’s race. Blummenfelt led a group of six, including Jelle Geens (BEL), and pushed really hard in the first three laps to catch the main group, leaving Iden way back, trying hopelessly to catch up.

By the fourth lap, Blummenfelt and Geens had caught with the large lead group, more than 45 men, and were escalating positions to even lead at some points on the bike, knowing that with the rain and such a massive group, it will be key to get a good position to enter transition.

The group lost some individuals lap after lap, but still made it to T2 with over 25 men all together, but Leo Bergere and Hayden Wilde had a flawless transition, and were quickly on the lead. Behind the duo, Vilaca had cramps that almost forced him to stop but managed to keep going, along with Adrien Brifford (SUI), Henri Schoeman (RSA), Coninx, Hauser, Nener, Geens and Blummenfelt. Before any of them could even react, Hayden put the hammer down and left Leo behind him, flying under the rain in Yokohama.

Bergere also suffered some cramps and was caught half way through by Coninx and Vilaca, with Hauser trying to catch them. As the km passed by, Hayden looked relaxed, heading into the blue carpet knowing that the victory was his, all smiles clapping hands of the spectators before grabbing the tape. “I was really going for this one. In Abu Dhabi, I had a mechanical and I didn’t get to show what I had so today I wanted to come out here and give it some. This year, I just wanted to go for it, go for a good time and that’s how it happened”, he said. “I couldn’t believe the swim I had. Everyone was getting it out and I was like, I am in the line, it was fantastic. I got into a really nice position and got on the front with Leo (Bergere) and co. so it was good. I really wanted to go quick and I was on pace quite nicely. I wanted to push a little bit more but I know in two weeks I’ve got Cagliari against Alex (Yee) so just waned to ease it a bit because I didn’t want to be too cooked for that”, he explained.

The silver medal came with a fabolous sprint by Matt hauser, who managed to pass Vilaca, Bergere and Coninx in the blue carpet to grab the silver in Yokohama. “It’s what self belief gets you mate. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much for this race coming out of this race two weeks out of Abu Dhabi. It’s a great credit to my team in Queensland and the Gold Coast and got it done here. It would have stung if I got another fourth place here so had to get on that dice”, he said.

Vilaca managed to stay ahead of the two frenchmen and crossed the line in third place, enough to grant him the Series leadership. “Well the season is going pretty well. Going intp the race with number one was super exciting and having the number one cap for me was pretty big. I lost the cap in the swim and I was looking forward to hanging that up on my wall when I got home. So I thought I still need to be Series leader so I can get a number one cap for the next race. Besides that, the race went pretty well. I got a big cramp on my left quad by the end of the T2 and I really lost the group and having 10km ahead of me, I kept believing. It was mentally kind of a boost, I thought it could only get better from here. Passing people it mentally helps”, he said.

Chocolate medal on the day for the French team, who got Coninx in fourth and Bergere in fith place, both of them guaranteeing their presence on the Paris Test Event. Behind them, Adrien Brifford finished in 6th, followed by Geens, Blummenfelt, Csongor Lehmann (HUN) and Schoeman closing the top 10 on the day.

Results: Elite Men
1. Hayden Wilde  NZL 01:42:13
2. Matthew Hauser  AUS 01:42:17
3. Vasco Vilaca  POR 01:42:18
4. Dorian Coninx  FRA 01:42:22
5. Léo Bergere  FRA 01:42:26

A sensational day of racing in the World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth to open the 2023 season with New Zealand athletes dominating the elite podiums and coming away with two golds and two silvers.
.

58 of the top athletes on the world circuit, lined up on Ngamotu Beach in Taranaki, New Zealand, to set the scene for the World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth, the opening event on the World Triathlon calendar in 2024. Today’s World Cup was a sprint-distance triathlon format with a 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5km run in New Plymouth.

Conditions had cleared for the men’s race in Taranaki and as athletes hit the sand out of the 750m swim, Portugal’s Ricardo Batista and Italy’s Nicolo Strada were the first to exit the runway to transition. New Zealand’s Trent Thorpe and Tayler Reid followed as the men stormed out of the swim, single file into transition and onto the bike course in New Plymouth. Race favourite and New Zealand’s Olympic Hayden Wilde was in nineteenth place out of the swim, 20 seconds down on the leaders. Wilde was so quick to enter and exit transition that it was evident that the New Zealander was set to impress in Taranaki today.

With no room for error, Wilde showed what he was made of by powering up the first hill, on the bike, to connect with the leaders. After this lap, Reid of New Zealand brought the field through and Strada was right on his wheel. USAs Seth Rider and Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk were right there with the front pack of ten men, alongside Batista.

16 seconds separated the leaders and the second pack of ten athletes, which was led by Mexico’s Aram Michell Penaflor Moysen. Another group of ten athletes were another few seconds back. With the presence of Wilde now in the front pack, it was evident to the leaders that work was to be done. Wilde continued to propel the group along to extend the lead.

On the final lap the leading group of eight men was maintaining their strong position and there was now a group of 40 men chasing, strung out behind them. The transition from bike to run was set to be ferocious. 

Local hero Wilde dismounted and with no time to waste produced a slick transition and hit the run course with Reid, Mislawchuk, Batista, Brandon Copeland, Strada, Rider and Dylan McCullough.

Wilde went out fast and took off ahead of the pack. The pace was blistering and the Olympic medallist was in a league of his own.

With any hope that they could stick with New Zealand’s best triathlete, the battle for the silver and bronze was between six men, running 1 minute 13 seconds ahead of the second pack which included New Zealand’s Callum McClusky.

On the final stage of the World Cup race in New Plymouth, more attention was turned to Wilde as he approached the finish and the crowds of Taranaki were chanting his name. The Olympic medallist and top-tier athlete on the world circuit hooned down the blue carpet to win gold, the first World Cup gold of his career and in front of friends, family and a roaring New Zealand crowd.

Olympic bronze medallist Hayden Wilde owned the race course to come away with the win, in front of a roaring home crowd. Although Wilde has an Olympic medal and multiple medals at the World Triathlon Championship Series stage, today was his first World Cup win and the first time that a New Zealander has onto the top step at the World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth since 2009.

“I feel on top of the world. It was just lovely to do it in front of friends and family. The family has ripped it out of me that I won an Olympic medal but never a World Series or World Cup medal. So it is nice to tick all four boxes on all four tiers. I did it completely the opposite way, but great to do it on home soil,” Wilde said.

In a sensational sprint to the line, it was New Zealand’s Tayler Reid who took home silver in front of family and friends and Portugal’s Ricardo Batista earned bronze.

“I’m buzzing, 1,2, baby. That was sick. Oh man, that was a deadly sprint finish. The main thing happening out there was Hayden (Wilde) hurting our legs. I’ve been training for this, I haven’t thought anything past this. The world ends after New Plymouth, I’ve been solely focused on this,” said Reid.

“It was a really good race for me. I was not expecting this place. I had an injury at the start of the week and without training so it was always good to be in the podium. I am really pleased with my third place here,” said Batista.

Watch the action on-demand over on TriathlonLive.tv and review the full set of results online.

A moody morning welcomed 58 women onto the black sand of Ngamotu Beach, to line up in the first World Triathlon Cup of the year in New Plymouth, New Zealand. 2023 World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth included a stacked international field, valuable Olympic points on the line and a sprint distance race format.

Australia’s ocean swim specialist Emma Jeffcoat, New Zealand’s Nicole Van der Kaay and Ainsley Thorpe made their way out in front, to the buoy, to lead the women through the opening portion of the race.

Following the swim was a sizeable run to transition for the athletes and Jeffcoat, Van der Kaay, Thorpe, New Zealand’s Hannah Knighton, Australia’s Sophie Linn and Mexico’s Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal led the athletes out of the Tasman sea. Yuka Sato and Olivia Thornbury had brilliant swims to exit the water in eighth and ninth place. Seconds separated the next group of athletes out of the swim as they rushed to remove their wetsuits and make their way onto the bike course. Linn and Jeffcoat were the first women on the bike course, in and around the streets of New Plymouth, both Australian women are known for their bike power on the world circuit.

2016 Rio Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen was out of the water in 37th place and went out onto the course with a large pack of athletes, 33 seconds down on the front women alongside Claire Michel of Belgium.

Linn, Jeffcoat, Van der Kaay, Knighton, Thorpe, Thornbury, Vidal and USAs Erika Ackerlund were driving the front group, across a course that is known for its twists, turns and technical elements.

A chase pack, 50 metres back, was working hard to bridge the gap to the leaders but the front group was working well together to apply the pressure and maintain a solid lead. Australia’s Kira Hedgeland was doing a lot of work at the front of this group.

At this stage, there were 30 women within 18 seconds of each other. Michel and Jorgensen did a lot of work on the first lap to move up closer to leaders. Australia’s Jaz Hedgeland was a further 10 seconds back leading another group of women around the course.

On the final lap on the bike, the front group applied pressure to the field and the likes of Jorgensen were riding 40 seconds down on the leaders. The front group had organised themselves down to 17 athletes, led by Norway’s Solveig Lovseth and van der Kaay.

Ackerlund, wearing number one today, was the first woman to dismount alongside Van der Kaay, Thorpe, New Zealand’s Brea Roderick, Jeffcoat, Linn and Thornbury headed out on the run course together. Kira Hedgeland and Spain’s Noelia Juan were among the first group onto the 5km hard and fast run course.

Strong form coupled with home crowd motivation pushed Van der Kaay to run away with the lead. Thorpe and Roderick were chasing hard, in an attempt to make it a New Zealand podium sweep at the World Triathlon Cup in Taranaki.

Jorgensen was left with work to do, as she entered the final transition of the day, nearly one minute behind Van der Kaay and Thorpe.

On the final stage of the race, Van der Kaay looked exceptional and in control as she dominated the run. The New Zealander made her way down the street, sidelined with home crowd support, to sprint down the blue carpet and into the finish chute to take the tape and earn her first World Cup gold medal. 
“This race is super special for me. This was actually my first World Cup podium four or five years ago and I haven’t had a World Cup podium since. So to get gold has made it super special. It was a goal of mine to get that gold but I didn’t know how I was coming in against some of the internationals. It’s a great feeling and home crowd, even better. There was alot of cheering out there for the New Zealanders. First of all was to get those points and I’ve nailed my first half of the season now it’s just building up to Paris,” said Van der Kaay.

Thorpe displayed an outstanding race performance, across all three disciplines, to cross the line and claim the silver medal on home soil.
“I came here today to podium. To podium today and with a silver medal and in New Zealand, which is even more special,” said Thorpe.

An overjoyed Lovseth claimed the best result of her career with a bronze and first medal on the World Cup stage.
“I just didn’t know what to expect. Very happy, very relieved. I felt the pace was controlled, felt quite good. Took some turns, I didn’t really want to break away as it’s sometimes so much harder on your own, just tried to stay quite close to the front and get ready for the run.”

“I spoke to Kristian Blummenfelt a couple of days ago and he told me he got his first podium here in New Plymouth, 8 years ago. He told me I hope they have a Norwegian flag ready for you. I am happy to meet the expectations now,” Lovseth added.

Rio 2016 Olympic champion Jorgensen finished in fourteenth place, in the first race of her comeback to triathlon with the goal of qualifying for USA at the next Olympic Games in Paris.

Athletes will continue their campaigns to earn points at the next races on the World Triathlon calendar, in the Olympic qualification window to Paris 2024.

Watch the 2023 World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth action back on TriathlonLive.tv
Review the full race results online.

Christchurch’s Mike Phillips has claimed victory at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong in Australia on Sunday, impressing on his way to victory.

Phillips crossed the line in 3:40:00, 38 seconds clear of Adelaide’s Steve McKenna, with Brisbane’s Nicholas Free a further minute behind in third.

Phillips, who claimed victory at Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand just three weeks ago, dominated the bike leg, powering ahead to open up what eventually became an unassailable lead.

“I’m pretty buggered, that was a pretty wobbly last 10km there, probably didn’t help biking that hard but I’m stoked to win,” said Phillips. “I got a bit of an average start in the swim but I was surrounded by the guys I knew I’d come out with so I wasn’t too worried and I thought my only chance was to take the opportunity on the bike, I thought a few might follow me but I had clear air straight away so I just got to work to get as much of a lead as I could.”

Phillips made his move early on the bike, working his way up from 11th to the lead, then putting over five minutes into the chasing pack by the end of the 90km bike leg.

“I was pretty stoked to hear five minutes when I got off the bike, you do the maths in your head and work out how much slower you can run than them, it was definitely touch and go at the end,” said Phillips. “I’m pretty ruined now though, I said I’d have a break after this race, I’m pretty happy to shut it down for a few weeks now. It was awesome out there, it’s a challenging bike course, nice swim and the run is quite challenging as well, it’s not your stock standard run course, it’s nice up and down the waterfront.”

For Melbourne’s Grace Thek her win in the women’s race on Sunday has been a long-time coming, finally standing on the top step of the IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong podium after finishing second or third at the event for the past five years.

Thek crossed the finish line in 4:10:10, almost two and a half minutes clear of 2019 winner Radka Kahlefeldt, with defending champion Lotte Wilms of the Netherlands third.

“Feeling pretty great, it was a long time coming, five podiums, finally got that top step this year to make my sixth race here in Geelong and I’m absolutely thrilled to take the win against a classy field of women,” said Thek. “It means a lot, I consider Geelong my hometown race. I’m from Melbourne born and raised and today was particularly special because I had my whole family here, my grandparents even came to watch for the first time, that was really exciting, I had my aunties here, my coach and so much support out on course from fellow Melbourne triathletes and that triathlon community.”

Thek finished the 1.9km swim in third, behind Wilms and Kahlefeldt, chipping away at their lead during the opening stages of the ride.

“I had a really solid swim, unfortunately I missed the feet of Radka but I think I had about a 25 second deficit out of the water, my bike’s probably in the best shape I’ve ever been in so I managed to bridge that gap which is quite unusual for me so I was thrilled,” said Thek. “I ended up taking the lead about halfway through the second lap, powering through and really enjoying the bike leg which is fantastic and then got out onto the run with Lotte and Radka. I knew I had to work hard to get the win and I’m absolutely thrilled.

“It was more of a gradual go at my own pace and I managed to gain some seconds and I couldn’t ease off at all because you never know what happens and Radka is a strong runner so I wasn’t sure if she would get a second wind,” she said. “They kept me honest all day and I’m just happy with my performance.”

The 31-year-old won’t have much time to relax and enjoy the win, as she’s heading overseas to continue her season in 48 hours’ time.

“I’m heading to the US on Tuesday, I’m entered for IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside on Saturday in six days time, we’ll just have to see how I pull up after today and the long haul flight, otherwise I’ve got my eyes set on a bunch of races in Europe, I’ve qualified already for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and that’s one of my key races for the season,” she said.

More than 1,300 athletes took on the IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run on Sunday.

Following an initial announcement in late 2021, World Triathlon is now pleased to announce the world’s first competition trial of the RaceRanger drafting detection system. The first trial will be held this Saturday, 21 January, at the Tauranga Half middle distance triathlon, part of the Mount Festival event in New Zealand. This will be the first time this truly ground-breaking new system is tested in a competition.

RaceRanger is an electronic sensor system designed to improve fairness around the issue of drafting on the bike section of non-drafting triathlons. Currently, determination of drafting distances by athletes and the technical officials policing them are made with subjective naked eye judgements.

Developed by two triathletes from New Zealand, in collaboration with the World Triathlon Sport department, RaceRanger comprises two electronic units that triathletes in non-drafting competitions attach to their bicycles, one at the front and one at the rear.

The system makes accurate measurements of the distance between athletes while they ride. The rear unit features 3 coloured lights that signal backwards to a following competitor, providing information about their following distance. In future, the system will detect when infringements are occurring and send this data to technical officials patrolling the course, via a tablet app interface. The official will assesses the situation in real-time and can then make a decision on whether a penalty needs to be applied through the system.

“World Triathlon is one of the most progressive and innovative sporting organisations in the world, and we have proved this approach multiple times. After our team having worked with RaceRanger for over a year, it is time now to test it during an event for the first time, and this is great and exciting news for the whole triathlon community”, said World Triathlon President and IOC Member, Marisol Casado. “We at World Triathlon are always committed with making the athlete experience better, providing new technologies that will increase the fairness of the competition for all athletes, especially the ones competing in longer distance formats”.

RaceRanger Founder and CEO James Elvery explains: “We are thrilled to finally bring RaceRanger into the real world this week, to be used on bikes in a race! It is our long held and firm belief that RaceRanger will fundamentally change our sport for the better, improving transparency around the drafting rules and removing subjective guesses by both athletes and officials. Using RaceRanger for the first time really is one of those technological advancements that just make immediate sense to the users, and it is hard to imagine going back to the ‘old way’.

Literally years of work and countless hours from our team and partners have gone into getting us here. While the system is not yet fully operational and 100% polished, we feel it is important to get it in the hands of athletes as early as possible. In sport, as in product development, there is nothing like a race to accelerate progress! “

RaceRanger devices will be fitted to all 24 elite athlete’s bikes before Saturday’s event. Triathlon New Zealand & World Triathlon technical officials, along with the athletes themselves, will evaluate it’s performance and provide feedback to the RaceRanger team to aid it’s continued development.

More race trials are planned through the New Zealand summer months, and after evaluating the first real pilot, World Triathlon and the RaceRanger team will work on implementing the devices in major international non-drafting events.

Despite just now being in initial competition trials, RaceRanger has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Outstanding Tech Product category at the inaugural Global Triathlon Awards to also be held this weekend in Nice, France.

World Triathlon looks forward to ongoing collaboration with the New Zealand-based RaceRanger team, to bring it to use in the wider sport, with the goal of improving fairness and athlete experiences at non-drafting events around the world.

New Zealand’s Braden Currie raced his heart out to finish third at the Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN World Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission in St. George, USA, the first time a Kiwi has claimed a podium finish since Cameron Brown achieved the feat back in 2005. 

Currie was leading the race at the 30km mark of the run before being passed by the impressive Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt, the eventual champion.  

In a nail-biting finish, Currie came so close to claiming silver until the last 800m of the 226km race where he was agonisingly overtaken by Canada’s Lionel Sanders. 

Currie claimed bronze in a time of 7:54:19. Taupō’s Kyle Smith, in only his second ever full distance IRONMAN and debut World Championship, finished 11th in 8:08:08. 

“Awesome day of racing to be honest, we had a really good group in the swim, good group of guys that were all happy to do some work and on the bike I kind of knew actually when we got out of the water it was a good crew of guys that were riding consistently, and all kind of lighter, smaller guys but not absolute animal bikers so it was a kind of perfect combo that we were all riding really well and rolling through it and everyone was happy to do their part. I think it showed, we managed to gap a little bit of time on some of the uber bikers and that just gave us that little bit of a buffer coming into the run,” said Currie. 

“I ran the way I normally run, I tried as hard as I could to give it, I didn't feel amazing but then looking at the times they were still pretty fast times so yeah, stoked, it's amazing, IRONMAN World Champs third and in the front of the race most of the day and a bit of a sprint finish toward the end,” he said. 

Currie had set out to improve on his previous best placed IRONMAN World Championship finish of fifth in 2018 and began the race in the best possible fashion, exiting out of the water from the swim in the lead group, alongside fellow Kiwi Smith. 

Out of the first transition into the start of the 180km bike, Currie had clawed his way to the front of the pack with Smith just behind in third. 

Both Currie and Smith took turns at the front over the tough, hilly bike course and the Kiwis were once again in the lead group into the second transition. 

Smith held the lead over the first 5km of the run before Currie took over. The 36-year-old steadily began to pull away from Smith and held onto that position until the 30km mark. Unfortunately for Currie, the fast-finishing Blummenfelt had been reeling in the leaders for the duration of the run and eventually snatched the lead from the fading Currie. 

“I ran a really hard and fast first half, I think I got through maybe 1:15/6 through that first half and I guess I just thought if he's going to run that much faster, then my only chance is that he's going to completely detonate so just hold strong, I wasn't going to kick and try and go with him so incredible, amazing performance,” said Currie. 

Blummenfelt, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games champion who set an IRONMAN course record on debut, showed his class as he extended his lead from Currie, who had to dig as deep as he’s ever gone to try and hold off four-time IRONMAN champion Sanders, eventually relinquishing the silver with less than a kilometre to go. 

“I like to run solid when I'm feeling good to deal with the downside when I'm not, so the way it worked out I don't think it would've made too much difference in the end, maybe if I'd run a little bit more consistent I would've held Lionel off, but you never know, you've got to try and it was a great day of racing,” said Currie. 

“The way the race was unfolding it's what it came down to and I kind of knew even if I really did have a big blow up I'd might've still snuck in my Kona slot so that was kind of one box ticked and then next one was to go for the win.” 

With such a strong men’s field, not many tipped Currie for the top three but the Wanaka athlete proved his mettle to score New Zealand a podium finish at the IRONMAN World Championship for the first time in 17 years. 

This is a year like no other for IRONMAN, with the rescheduled 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in St. George taking place ahead of the 2022 Supersapians IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawai’i this October.  

With his third-place finish, Currie secured himself a position at the 2022 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. In finishing 11th, with others ahead of him already qualified, Smith also bagged a place at the pinnacle event. 

Currie says he’s looking forward to a second IRONMAN World Championship later in the year and hopes to have another strong race in Kona. 

“I like the heat and I've got a really good lead in this year and I'm looking forward to it so again it just depends a lot how it unfolds and what happens. It does seem that the uber riders tend to get to the front a lot earlier in Kona from what we've seen but if we have a good crew again, riding the way we did today then who knows, maybe we can get off and have a good run back,” he said. 

“Stoked, it's been a really big summer of racing and training, I guess the unknown as well, it's just a really great reward to have a great race here and put all three disciplines together.” 

Capping off a sensational day for the Kiwis, Hamilton’s 30-year-old Matt Kerr was the first age group athlete across the line, becoming the Age Group IRONMAN World Champion. 

NATIONAL STORAGE IRONMAN AUSTRALIA – FINAL RESULTS 

PRO MEN 

Kristian Blummenfelt, NOR, 7:49:16 
Lionel Sanders, CAN, 7:54:03 
Braden Currie, NZL, 7:54:19 
Chris Leiferman, USA, 7:57:51 
Florian Angert, DEU, 7:59:35 
Leon Chevalier, FRA, 8:01:41 
Daniel Bækkegård, DNK, 8:02:06 
Sam Laidlow, FRA, 8:02:56 
David McNamee, GBR, 8:04:36 
Ben Hoffman, USA, 8:06:38 
Kyle Smith, NZL, 8:08:08 

For more information about the 2021 Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN World Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission event, please visit  www.ironman.com/im-world-championship-2021  
 
For more information on the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 brands and global event series, visit www.ironman.com.   

ENDS 

Triathlon history has been made in Singapore today with British stars Beth Potter and Alex Yee taking the first-ever esport triathlon World Championship titles.

The British pair fought in the heat, humidity and rain of southeast Asia at Arena Games Triathlon Singapore, however, with Hungary’s Zsanett Bragmayer and Hayden Wilde of New Zealand powering their way to the event wins to leave Yee in second place in the fast and frenetic nine-discipline race format.

Women’s race
In the women’s event, the three-stage triathlon saw Beth Potter and Zsanett Bragmayer duke it out for victory from the start in Singapore’s Marina Bay, the open-water swim being the first time that a world-class event had been hosted in Marina Bay Reservoir.

Potter would win the day’s first 200m open-water swim, 4km smart trainer bike leg and 1km self-powered curved treadmill run stage, before the Hungarian would prove victorious in the second stage (a reverse of Stage 1).

Those results left the Stage 3 victory and the day’s overall title coming down to the last 200m open-water swim, 4km bike and 1km run. The duo would be inseparable on the swim and bike, before Bragmayer achieved the rare feat of overpowering Potter on the final 1km run to land a major victory. Georgia-Taylor Brown (GBR) would round out the podium on a day when crowd favourite Jess Learmonth, would be forced to withdraw on Stage 1’s run leg.

Combined with her silver from Singapore, Potter’s Arena Games win in Munich and second place in London would lead to her being crowned the 2022 World Champion, however. “I was in a world of pain, but I gave it everything,” said Potter at the finish as she made history and secured the first women’s esports world title in Triathlon.

Men’s race
The men’s event, the climax of the Arena Games Triathlon season that has also visited Munich and London in Europe, again saw two races for the price of one. Both the 2022 World Championship crown and the Singapore Arena Games Triathlon titles were on the line, with Alex Yee and Germany’s Justus Nieschlag vying for the former, a field of 10 international contenders for the latter.

Both titles would go down to the wire and the final of today’s nine triathlon stages. That final 1km treadmill run would witness New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde power to the Singapore title, with Yee holding off a chasing Nieschlag to take the 2022 esports World Championship title. France’s Aurelien Raphael would take 2022 bronze.

While Yee will relish his world title, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde was the star of the men’s event. The New Zealand athlete outpaced Yee on Stage 1’s final run leg before both he and Yee were overpowered by Germany’s Justus Nieschlag putting on the afterburners to take the Stage 2 win by just 1second in an enthralling and rare triathlon swim sprint finish.

Stage 3 would really be the Wilde show with the New Zealander taking control on the 4km bike leg, his watts reaching 370w as Yee evidently suffered in his Zwift slipstream. By T2, Wilde’s lead was 15seconds over Yee and Nieschlag. Wilde would hold off both Yee (10seconds behind) and Nieschlag (27seconds) to deliver a major statement win, Yee another major title. With their careers on the ride, today won’t be the first time that Wilde battles for honours.

“I love racing on the edge of my seat and a big shout out to the crowd for coming out and supporting even though it was bucketing down,” said Wilde at the finish. “I was actually hoping it would be a bit hotter than it is, but the sun gods didn’t come out! A massive kudos to Alex as well,” said Wilde.

“I came here to race the best that I could, and I’ve been rewarded for my performances here and in London. My swim has been a massive project for me this winter and I’ve worked meticulously on it, so I’m really pleased that it paid off,” said Yee.

Review the full results here.

Ironman Braden Currie is back racing on the world stage and has his sights set on the top of the podium at the Ironman World Championships in St George, Utah this Sunday (NZT).

It’s been a long time coming for the Kiwi Dad after pandemic induced cancellations and international travel restrictions brought big race events like this to a halt for just shy of three years.

In 2022, Currie has two shots at the prestigious title with this weekend’s event going down in history as the first time it has been held outside of its birthplace - Kona, Hawaii.
 
Although Currie doesn’t yet have his qualifying spot for the second Ironman World Championship event (due to race cancellations), which will return to Kona in October, he hopes to gain this at St George this weekend.
 
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. There has been more space to get organized and effectively manage the lead into this race. I feel as though we have left no stone unturned which is comforting and it's always great to line up with the best in the world because it’s guaranteed to be the ultimate test of my own personal ability”.
 
Currie states that amidst significant race cancellations, staying motivated towards training for the unknown has not been an issue.
 
“We have been lucky to have a good handful of races in New Zealand over the summers and it’s been broken up in a way where I never knew the big events (even the international ones) weren’t going to happen until they typically cancelled around a month out, so in my mind, these races were always happening and  I continued to train and plan as if they were which has helped in keeping my mind off the fact that I haven’t really raced a huge event on the world stage for two and half years”.
 
The St. George edition of Ironman World Champs is set to serve up an interesting course with varied terrain and a peak altitude of around 1700 meters at the top of the bike course, hence why Curries' first stop in the USA was Cedar City.
 
“We’ve had a really good lead-in. I’ve been in the USA for two weeks now, based in Cedar City which is around 1700m altitude. The concept is that I will shake those effects of altitude and feel pretty good at the top of the bike course and hopefully not be hurting as much as the others”.
 
With Curries' history in off-road racing, the ability to quickly adapt to changing course features falls well within the former multi-sport star's forte. Curries dominant emotion towards the nearing event is one of excitement, all whilst acknowledging the challenge that lies ahead, especially with the company he will keep on the start line.  

“I’m in a good stage of my career and have developed enough experience now to race well and not be affected so much by the pressure of a world championship event. But I’d say there are ten guys that clearly come to mind that could take this out just as much as I could and then on top of that, there is a whole other field of athletes who I know could take the podium or make the top ten if they have a blinder of a day. I think it’s quite cool that this year, I can’t really pick one person that is obviously dominant. It will make for an exciting race and at the end of the day, it will come down to those microelements on race day. My goal is to simply look after myself out there and stay as strong as I can”.
 
Great weather has been on Curries' side, along with training partner Matt Kerr in his final block before taper time. A fresh start is expected on race day with water temperatures expected to come in at around 15 degrees followed by peak temperatures in the thirties around about when the first group of pro athletes commence the run leg.
 
There is an estimated 30-40 New Zealand athletes set to race this weekend with Kyle Smith in the pro field and the remainder age group athletes.

Auckland’s Rebecca Clarke came agonisingly close to victory but had to settle for second after a gutsy performance in the 35th anniversary National Storage IRONMAN Australia.  

Jack Moody, also hailing from Auckland, finished third in 8:35:40, just less than a minute ahead of Christchurch’s Ben Phillips in fourth. 

The women’s race was an epic battle between 2021 Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand runner-up Clarke and Australia’s Sarah Crowley, a two-time third place finisher at the IRONMAN World Championships. 

Clarke was the first female out of the water, holding onto her lead for the first 40km of the bike before Crowley took the lead.  

The top two swapped positions throughout the next 140km of riding, eventually coming back into transition just seconds apart.  

Clarke began the run in the lead, but it didn’t take Crowley long to hit the front and from there she refused to relinquish her lead despite being pushed hard for the entire 42.2km with Clarke never more than two minutes behind. 

“Really stoked, apart from having a little extra swim, I started turning at the wrong point and got turned back so swam a little bit extra, but really stoked with my bike and my run, a marathon PB and ticket to Kona so I couldn't ask for more, always take a podium and second to a class athlete as well in Crowley,” said Clarke. 

“Race plan, get out of the water first, I knew I was probably the strongest swimmer on paper, and I thought maybe Crowley was going to be too strong on the bike and I didn't know if I had the legs to go with her, so I was just going to see what happened, make sure I was ticking near my power targets which I was. There were times where you pushed a bit more, you've got to push up Matthews Flinders drive and then on the run I just knew I could have my best run today if I was smart and fuelled. 

“I just thought let’s just go, my running is going really well in training and so I just backed my run and I went out and thought ooh, this is a bit weird to be in the lead, I think I led for about 3kms until she came past and I stuck with her for a little bit but needed to run my own pace and hoped maybe, it's a long way that's what I kept telling myself that we were battling at 4km into a marathon, I was like you've got 38kms to run so you could blow your legs out at 21kms easily so I just kept my distance and said just be patient and anything can happen, but she was just stronger on the day,” she said.  

Clarke, IRONMAN runner-up once again, finished in a time of 09:07:11 but this time around also secured herself a position at the 2022 Supersapiens IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii in October, unlike at last year’s IRONMAN New Zealand where only the winner qualified. 

“I'm emotional about that. It's been a goal of mine since I started long course and at times, I thought maybe last year and in a way it didn't happen, so this is the year we're confident it's going to go ahead and I think it's going to be a huge one after not happening for two years. It just means a lot as a professional to do that and just a dream come true,” she said. 

In the men’s race, Phillips was third out of the water, one place behind eventual winner Tim van Berkel and just over four minutes behind leader Josh Amberger. Moody was further back in seventh. 

Phillips maintained third on the 180km bike while Moody moved up to fifth. 

Both Moody and Phillips put together strong performances throughout the race, but it was Moody’s run that made the difference between the third and fourth place as he reeled in Phillips over the 42.2km and overtook the Cantabrian with about 800 metres to go. 

“I’m over the moon, so stoked to come across the ditch for the first time in a few years and to get on the podium is unreal. I've been busy at home for the last couple of years training and it feels like it really paid off today so really happy,” said Moody. 

“It means everything, it means I'm stepping in the right direction. This was my second professional IRONMAN today and it definitely wasn't as smooth as last year, plenty of hiccups and a constant learning curve all day and just mentally trying to stay tough out there when things aren't going your way, but overall really happy. 

Moody was delighted with a podium finish despite not executing his race exactly how he’d have liked. 

“I had a really good swim, so I managed to just hang in at the back of the bunch and kind of felt like I was cruising all day in the swim which was kind of nice not being a super strong generally speaking in New Zealand, so to come out just in the back group with Van Berkel and the boys was really satisfying. Then a bit of a slow transition but I managed to ride my own race on the bike, really battled on the back end of the second lap and then got on the run, it wasn't smooth sailing in that it's generally my strength but coming to the last lap I realised the gap was getting smaller and smaller to third and at about 3km to go I counted a few cones ahead and thought that's only a 30 second gap so I had to open up the taps and see what I could do and I got Ben with about 800m to go, so pretty over the moon at that one,” he said. 

Australia’s Tim Van Berkel and Sarah Crowley claimed the men’s and women’s titles at the 35th anniversary National Storage IRONMAN Australia in Port Macquarie, Van Berkel crossing the line in  8:15:14 to take victory, while Crowley won in 9:06:04. 

NATIONAL STORAGE IRONMAN AUSTRALIA – FINAL RESULTS 

PRO MEN 

1.       Tim van Berkel, AUS, 8:15:14 

2.       Josh Amberger, AUS, 8:26:14 

3.       Jack Moody, NZL, 8:35:40 

4.       Ben Phillips, NZL, 8:36:36 

5.       Tim Reed, AUS, 8:40:20 

6.       Fraser Walsh, AUS, 8:46:44 

7.       Joel Wooldridge, AUS, 8:55:05 

8.       Harry Young, AUS, 9:00:34 

PRO WOMEN 

1.       Sarah Crowley, AUS, 9:06:04 

2.       Rebecca Clarke, NZL, 9:07:11 

3.       Courtney Gilfillan, AUS, 10:13:20 

For more information on National Storage IRONMAN Australia visit: https://www.ironman.com/im-australia