WTCS Hamburg 2023 men's results: Hayden Wilde claims brilliant victory

New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde won a stunning final shootout to be crowned Super Sprint World Champion at WTCS Hamburg on Saturday.

After two days of eliminations it all came down to a mile run, with Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), Alex Yee (GBR), Matt Hauser (AUS) and WTCS series leader Vasco Vilaca (POR) all bang in contention.

But a quite brilliant lead in to T2 from Wilde gave him what would prove a crucial gap which he never looked like relinquishing.

Vilaca finished two seconds behind in second, with Yee – beaten by Wilde for the first time in a WTCS race they both finished – rounding out the podium in third. Blummenfelt was fourth and Hauser fifth.

Here’s how a dramatic day in Germany panned out…

Final Stage 1 – Big guns made to work

Jelle Geens (BEL), third last time out at WTCS Montreal, was the biggest name to exit in the first stage.

The elimination format saw 30 men start, with the first 20 going through but any thoughts that might make for a relatively steady pace at the front were quickly dispelled.

Hauser powered to the front early in the 300m swim and was first out of the water, with a three-second buffer to Tayler Reid (NZL).

But Olympic champion Blummenfelt was 18 seconds back in 22nd, Wilde was 20 seconds off the pace in 25th and Yee was a place and three seconds further adrift.

And that led to a significant split on the 7.5km bike leg, with those in the front driving the pace to try and keep those big names at arm’s length.

First Wilde and then Blummenfelt worked hard on the front to limit the damage and were 18th and 22nd respectively going into T2, with Yee in between.

However all were safely into the all-important top 20 by the end of the first lap on the 1.6km run and never looked in danger thereafter.

But Geens, Henri Schoeman (RSA) and Matt McElroy (USA) all missed out as Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) was first across the line.

And added to that eliminations list was Vetle Thorn (NOR) who failed to serve a mount line violation penalty.

ELIMINATIONS: Henri Schoeman, Jawad Abdelmoula, Bence Bicsák, Lasse Nygaard Priester, Charles Paquet, Matthew McElroy, Janus Staufenberg, Jelle Geens, Jacob Birtwhistle and Vetle Thorn who was disqualified.

Final Stage 2 – Calm before the storm

In stark contrast to the relative chaos of the first stage, the process of whittling down 20 names to 10 was far more straightforward.

There were some similarities – Hauser again led out the swim with Csongor Lehmann (HUN) and Reid just behind.

But this time only 12 seconds separated Hauser from Blummenfelt, Yee and Wilde and it came together on the bike with 18 men all in contention for what effectively became a run battle.

Deep into the second of the two laps eight men were clear, with Blummenfelt leading them across the line, followed by Hauser, Lehmann, Yee, Max Studer (SUI), Wilde, Mislawchuk and WTCS series leader Vasco Vilaca (POR).

And in the fight for the two remaining places it was Tim Hellwig (GER) and Miguel Hidalgo (BRA) who made it through, with Marten Van Riel (BEL) among those to be eliminated.

ELIMINATIONS: Tayler Reid, Marten Van Riel, Antonio Serrat Seoane, Simon Henseleit, Lasse Lührs, Seth Rider, Tom Richard, Valentin Wernz, Manoel Messias, and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon.

Final Stage 3 – Wilde finish clinches it

For the first time, Hauser didn’t lead out the swim. Instead that honour went to Lehmann, closely followed by Hellwig.

It was tight in behind with Hauser third and little between him and Yee in seventh as that group just opened up a small gap on the first bike lap.

It meant Blummenfelt had to work harder than most to bridge up and he would then attack on the second lap.

The Olympic champion – who had spoken about the run speed of Yee and Wilde in this format after the second stage – kept trying to eke out a gap but heading towards T2 there was nothing between them.

But that was where Wilde surged round the last couple of corners on the bike and he then extended his advantage in the transition zone.

It all came down to a mile run for the glory, but Wilde was now in pole position and he would never look back.