Youri Keulen finally experienced the joy of stepping onto the winner’s podium at the weekend – more than 16 months after the dramatic post-race collapse in Singapore which cut his victory celebrations painfully short.
The Dutchman admitted that finishing third in last weekend’s T100 Series event in Wollongong, Australia, was a very special moment for him as he celebrated with race winner Hayden Wilde of New Zealand and runner-up Mika Noodt of Germany.
Such joyous scenes were in marked contrast to the horrific events of April 2024, when Keulen, having given absolutely everything he had to cross the finishing line first, was immediately rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.
Exhausted and with no memory
Instead of being able to lap up the congratulations and adulation that his victory should rightly have awarded him, he returned to his hotel room later that evening feeling exhausted and with no memory of his crucial winning moment. And the trophy that he should have been holding aloft in triumph was instead placed on his bed, waiting for him.
It was an emotional experience, which he admits took its competitive toll on the weeks and months that followed, but now he has at least gone some way to easing the pain.
“A lot of people don’t know that I’ve won a race before, but I’ve never been on the podium,” he said after Wollongong. “I didn’t make it to the podium in Singapore because I was on my way to the hospital. And that hurt. That really hurt.
“You win the race but never get to close it off. I always had the feeling that there was something missing that day. That I didn’t get to achieve because of my medical conditions. I’ve been close a couple of times this year, but the race scenario was not always in my favour, but now I can finally enjoy the podium.
“In Singapore, I don’t remember the finish line; that was the cost of me winning that day. If I had to do it tomorrow to win a race, then I would do it again. But I never had that closure. I came back to my hotel room in Singapore, and the trophy was on the bed, and that really hurt.
“But now I can get the medal myself and get the champagne too.”
Wilde just dropped a massive bomb
The race was won by Kiwi Wilde, who has now been successful in all five of the events that he has started this year and will travel to Dubai for the T100 finals next month as the undisputed favourite to clinch the championship crown.
And Keulen accepts that he had no answer to the ‘bombs’ that Wilde continued to drop as he stormed away for another impressive victory.
“I had my plan with my coach, which was to just be on it from moment one, because these races, especially with the waves, can be quite unpredictable, and my swim is not my strongest point,” he said. “If I make the right choices in the swim, I know I can get towards the front out of the water. So, I’m there, and I’m active, and I’m not afraid for the fight.
“Then on the bike, my goal was to use the first climb as a step towards an attack to the front. But then as I got there, Hayden Wilde decided to drop a massive bomb somewhere. I could just about respond on it. And then no sooner had I responded and I was in the group, he dropped another one, and I simply couldn’t respond to that one.
“However, if you look at the data and if you look at the power and the run split, I think this is one of the best days of the year for me. It really means a lot to me, this one.”
The Qatar finale take place on Friday December 12, with the series championships on the line. Wilde goes into the race with the maximum 140 points from his best four events to count, while Belgian Jelle Geens and Noodt are in second (122 points) and third (110 points), respectively. Keulen is in sixth place overall with 81 points. All of them – bar Wilde – could improve their scores in the last regular-season event in Dubai in November.
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