France’s Leo Bergere took the race win and the overall title after a terrific shootout with last year’s men’s champion Hayden Wilde in Super League Triathlon‘s Grand Finale in Neom.
The pair had it between them at the end of the Enduro format but an earlier decision by Scorpions team boss Michael Gilliam to give a short chute – which Wilde had won – to his teammate Henri Schoeman tipped things massively in favour of Bergere.
For last year’s WTCS World Champion had been allocated the Eagles short chute and that saw him open up a decisive gap at the start of the final run and he never looked back as he powered to glory.
Wilde was nine seconds back when the line came, with Alex Yee best of the rest as he took third place at +31s.
Stage 1 – False start for Max
The Sharks had dominated early on in the women’s race and they tried to repeat the feat in the men’s event, with Max Stapley tasked with getting them off to a flying start in the swim.
However that didn’t come off as he found himself with a five-seconds penalty for a false start and instead it was last year’s Neom winner Matt Hauser who was out of the water first and then bagged an Eagles short chute which would ultimately prove so important.
Three men – Bergere, Wilde and Jonny Brownlee – knew a win would seal the overall title but there were contrasting fortunes early on in transition as Bergere’s bike briefly hit the deck as Wilde earned the short chute.
Stage 2 – Top two go head to head
The significant split came on the bike section when Wilde, Bergere and Seth Rider moved clear, ahead of a six-man chase pack that included Brownlee.
And they would put the hammer down to gradually extend the lead and all but put Brownlee out of contention for the overall win.
But then came the bombshell news that Gilliam, presumably with an eye on the team prize, had elected to give the Scorpions short chute to Schoeman. A similar tactic had paid off 12 months ago – would history repeat itself?
Meanwhile Eagles boss Tim Don had no hesitation in going with Bergere and the pair were now out on their own at the end of the second run, 23 seconds clear of the rest.
Stage 3 – More joy for the Eagles
Not much changed on the final swim and bike so it all came down to the 1.6km run at the end of a dramatic Super League season, with Toulouse winner Bergere and Malibu hero Wilde going head to head.
The short chute had an immediate impact as Bergere gained those vital yards and he did everything he could to ram home that advantage.
At the turnaround point it briefly looked as if Wilde might close but the elastic snapped soon after and Bergere was able to savour his victory in the final stages.
Yee ran on strongly to take third, with Hauser fourth and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt in fifth.
In fairness Schoeman’s short chute did help him to sixth, fractions ahead of Tayler Reid and Kenji Nener, with Brownlee in ninth and Rider 10th.
But on a bonanza day for them it was the Eagles who would land the lucrative team prize ahead of the Scorpions and the Sharks.
Super League Triathlon Neom 2023 results
Saturday 21 October 2023 – Enduro – Elite Men
- 1. Leo Bergere
- 2. Hayden Wilde +9s
- 3. Alex Yee +31s
- 4. Matt Hauser +34s
- 5. Kristian Blummenfelt +45s
Final standings after Neom (round four of four)
- 1. Leo Bergere – 49pts
- 2. Hayden Wilde -45pts
- 3. Alex Yee -41pts
- 4. Henri Schoeman – 36pts
- 5. Jonny Brownlee – 36pts
Final team standings
- 1. Santara Tech Eagles – 425pts
- 2. Bahrain Victorious Scorpions – 407pts
- 3. RTP Sharks – 390pts
- 4. RTS Warriors – 220pts
Series Discipline winners
- Swim – Chase McQueen
- Bike – Emil Holm
- Run – Reese Vannerson
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