Aussie superstar Matt Hauser says the fear of jumping off the bike in an Olympic head-to-head race with rivals Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde is driving him on to ensure he can give it his absolute best when it matters most.
Having seen firsthand how the pair battled for the line in an epic battle for Paris gold in 2024 and also made the podium four years earlier in Tokyo, he admits the duo’s success has played a huge part in turning him into the athlete he is today.
Hauser finished back in 24th at the delayed Tokyo Games and went home with the realisation that something needed to change if he was to challenge the likes of Yee, who finished second behind Kristian Blummenfelt, and Wilde, who was third.
Driven to change his ways by Tokyo experience
He set about working with coach Dan Atkins on finding a route to achieving success at a sport he was clearly pretty good at, but which he admits had not really been regarded as a professional career.
Talking on the Stanley St Social podcast, which has been embedded into this story below, he revealed how he even moved out of the shared house that he lived in with a group of friends so that he could seriously knuckle down.
“I feel like I’d had some decent results, but I never felt like I was truly comfortable at the top and belonged,” he said. “Even at the Olympics, I got 24th, but I felt like I was just chasing my tail the whole day.
“Didn’t really feel like I was contributing to the race at all. I felt kind of out of the Olympic experience because it was around Covid, so it was very anticlimactic as well, and I went back home and worked out with Dan Atkins what I needed to do, just nutted a few things out and became a little bit more professional.
Fully focused on next two Olympic Games
“I moved out of the boys’ house on the Gold Coast that I was living in and moved in with the misso, and that probably helped control things a little bit as well. I guess from then on in, I just didn’t want to feel like I was getting left behind by the sport.
“Guys my age were winning or earning podium places at the Olympics. Alex and Hayden Wild were on the podium in Tokyo, and they were my age. So I felt like I really needed to dig my heels in and double down and really think of it as like a profession rather than just like a hobby or something I’m good at.”
Having tried his hand at middle-distance sport earlier this season in the T100 Singapore, he admits that his sole focus going forward now is to be ready for the two Olympics that he feels will be within his career timeline.
First, he wants to be ready for LA28, but then the 2023 Games are being held in Brisbane, and that could well be the chance of a glorious farewell fairytale for a man who was born in Queensland – and an improvement on the seventh place he recorded in Paris, when Yee and Wilde took gold and silver.
Fairytale farewell at Brisbane in 2032?
“I’m probably looking towards Brisbane 2032. That’s probably going to be the end of my short-course triathlon career,” he said. “So, I’ve only got five or six years left in this sport, and I really have to maximise my opportunities.
“So I think that’s also elevating my performances to another level, because I know I’ve only got so much longer in this sport.”
When he is asked whether he feels scared at the prospect of Yee and Hayden coming off the bike together and facing a head-to-head battle for the medals, he doesn’t hold back.
“For sure. Yeah, I think there is an element of worry if they are in the race and if I am going head-to-head with them on a run,” he said. “But then there’s also like a self-belief piece where I’ve got to believe that I’m capable of duking it out with them.
‘It’s the Olympic Games, there is no bigger stage’
“I have split faster runs than them in the same race before. I know I’m capable of it. I just need to put myself in the right position, the right mindset. And while my first option and best chance of winning might be to swim hard, get a break on the bike, and then run strong, I have to be ready for all kinds of situations.
“Realistically, you know the Olympics are going to be hard. You can’t rely on a lack of motivation from the other guys behind because it’s the Olympic Games, you know? There’s no bigger stage.
“Everyone wants to go as hard as they can and risk it all. But for me, it’s about recognising their strengths, but also, you know, believing in myself and believing that I can put myself in a chance of winning, either way the race plays out.”
