Hauser Brings Home Bronze for Australia

With no sign of rain and the temperature hovering around 22 degrees, it provided near perfect conditions at Sutton Park for triathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The defending champion Henri Schomen was unable to defend his title due to a late withdrawal before the race.

Who’s looking the goods?

On paper the favourites going into the event were Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde followed by a mixture of who was or wasn’t in form. The only time Wilde has beaten Yee was back in Leeds this year. And that win wasn’t without some frowns from others given the circumstances – Wilde causing a crash.

Jake Birtwhislte, who was a silver medalist on the Gold Coast 4 years ago, seems to not be in form. While Matt Hauser is coming off some well executed races over the first half of the year including Hamburg a few weeks ago.

How the race unfolded

With the gun sounding, the swim bunch split into two and gaps starting appearing within minutes. Nearing the first buoy Matt lead the bunch with a group of 6 sitting close by.

During an interview following his podium in Hamburg, he mentioned how the Aussies are working hard to remain at the top of the sport.
With 3 minutes to go, Hauser was past by Reid where he has pushed on to ensure the lead remains. Wilde remained in 3rd position while Yee is in the middle of the pack.

Rounding the final buoy, Reid continued to his lead with Riddle, Dixon, Main and Hauser in the top 5. Yee was out in 16th place with a gap of 15 seconds and Burthwhistle in 17th place with a gap of 17 seconds. The final Aussie out of the water was Copeland in 20th place with a gap to Reid of 20 seconds.
First out of T1 was Riddle, followed by Wilde and then Reid. Two Kiwi’s and one South African. The large case group are looking to bring that 10 second gap down.

Closing out the first lap, the lead group still consisting of Riddle, Reid and Wilde have grown the gap by another 10 seconds.

Going through lap 2 of the bike, the 3 lead group are very well organised with Wilde doing a lot of the work. The chase bunch swapping off well but aren’t eating into the gap. Turner being a strong driver of this chase bunch.

Closing off the 2nd lap, the gap remained the same at around 20 seconds. Wilde, with his strong Exterra pedigree, continues on driving the front bunch of 3.
The main field is packed full of the big names including Yee, Birthwhistle and Hauser, most of the other nations seem to be comfortable allowing others to do the work.

Onto lap 3, the lead dropped by 2 seconds to 18 seconds. Wilde, looking a little cautious, leading the group of 3 into T2. Reid sitting off a little to ensure he’s prepared for the run.

The big question remains. Has Wilde done too much during this bike leg?

Heading out of transition the lead group of 3 has 17 seconds on the chase group. Within seconds, Wilde puts the afterburners on and gaps Reid and Riddle.

Within the first 1km of this 5km run leg, Wilde continues to push hard at the front. While running down the long downhill, there are glimpses of the other nations suits making up ground. One that stands out is the red suit from Yee.

Yee has a very strong run which helped him secure Silver at the Olympics.

Wilde has been given a 10 second penalty for unclipping his helmet before racking his bike. Looking back at his, it never looked like he unclipped the buckle on his helmet before his bike was inserted into the bike rack. This will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Wilde completing the first lap, now has Yee breathing down his neck with only a 7 second gap. Following Yee is Hauser in 3rd place 13 seconds back and in 4th position is Birthwhistle another 6 seconds back.

With 1000m to go, on the slight uphill, Yee moved closer to Wilde and eventually passes him. Wilde hanging tough on Yee’s shoulder and continues to ran the same pace. Both swapping positions during the final few hundred meters.

Does he now know about the penalty?

With only 100 meters to go, Wilde throws his hand out to Yee signally a high-five and to congratulate him for the win. Wilde to serve his 10 second penalty before the finish line.

Yee strikes gold for England to win the 2022 Commonwealth Games triathlon in Birmingham. Wilde for New Zealand takes silver and Hauser for Australia with Bronze. Fourth place goes to Australian Birthwhistle.