Hayden Wilde moves on from Dubai T100 chaos after officials’ response

Hayden Wilde finishes with silver in the men’s triathlon at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo / Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz

Hayden Wilde is determined to put the frustrations of Sunday’s shambolic T100 triathlon event in Dubai behind him, saying he’s satisfied with the response by officials.

In what will always be remembered as the Dubai debacle, Wilde, who was leading at the time, and several other athletes rode nine laps instead of eight on the bike leg of the race which resulted in him slipping from the lead and finishing eighth.

The result ended the Taupō native’s winning streak on the circuit where he’d won all five previous races he’d competed in.

Adding to the confusion, some entrants were one lap short on the run, with Morgan Pearson eventually declared the winner as the finishing order was decided by positions at the end of the penultimate lap of the run. Organisers blamed a technical issue with the lap counting board and timing for the error.

Wilde was seething after the race, questioning the professionalism of those running the event, but having had a couple of days to reflect and talk things over, he is satisfied that changes are coming to avoid further confusion.

“They put their hand up as well and for the next race, there will be lap counters and a final bell, which is fantastic,” Wilde told Newstalk ZB.

“I’ve also got to put my hand up as well. I messed up, I did an extra lap and I’ll move forward from this.

“It’s definitely a learning curve for myself, obviously cost me the race as well, but you can’t dwell too much on the past and you just hope this doesn’t happen to any other athletes.”

Wilde, an Olympic silver and bronze medallist, knew he must have been near the end of his cycle, but as there was no call from an official to move into the transition area, he kept going, with Belgian Mathis Margirier and France’s Marten Van Riel following him.

Previously fourth-place British athlete Sam Dickinson rolled into transition and looked confused as to where the leaders had gone with no other bikes in the area.

By the time Wilde returned, he was 13th and was shocked to see all the bikes present.

The mistake cost the 28-year-old more than a win, but a significant amount in prize money.

Each race, the winner is awarded US$25,000 ($44,000) but for Wilde, his eighth-place means he only pocketed US$6000 ($10,000).

“It’s a lot of prize money and a lot of money on the line that I lost and other athletes lost last week,” Wilde said. ”We just hope it doesn’t happen again.

“It’s a bit of a shame being one of the guys that that fell into it. It’s a bit unfortunate, but hopefully we can work together and move forward and make better of our mistakes, just make it better.”

T100 events consist of 2km of swimming, 80km of cycling and 18km of running.

The T100 season concludes with the finale in Qatar in December and a top-four finish for Wilde would be enough to see him secure the overall title and pocket a US$210,000 ($371,000) prize.