Alex Yee has just won the Supertri Boston. The Olympic Champion again, as in Paris, defeated Hayden Wilde in the closing stages. The gesture Yee made in victory, one as if it took little effort on his part, was not thanked to him by the runner-up
In Boston – a new venue for Supertri – the program featured the so-called Enduro format. That format will also be used at the other races, so there will be no more switching between different race formats, as was the case before. The Enduro format involves a 300-meter swim, a 4-kilometer bike ride and a 1.6-kilometer run, and when that’s done, the athletes dive straight into the water for a second heat over the same distances. Even after that, it’s not finished, because again without a break, a third and all-deciding heat then follows. If you swim, bike or run ninety seconds behind the leader, you will be eliminated from the race.
Heat 1 – Yee and Wilde forcing first difference
After a good swim, Matthew Hauser briefly took the lead, but on the bike everyone got back together. It stayed that way and during the run it was then Yee who took the initiative. An Olympic battle seemed to be developing again, because right behind him was Hayden Wilde, although most of the other men could also keep up and there was no serious difference being made yet. Until the final meters that was, when Wilde increased the pace briefly and then so did Yee as well. That meant that in the end only Vincent Luis, Tim Hellwig, Dorian Coninx, Sergio Baxter Cabrera and also Hauser were able to keep up and so a leading group of seven was formed.
Heat 2 – Hayden Wilde tries to get loose, but group follows
During the second heat, it was Luis who showed himself nicely at the front and after the swim he went on an adventure on the bike. In doing so he got compatriot Coninx and also Wilde with him, while especially Yee tried everything to get closer, but he struggled to close the gap of a few seconds. Yet after a few hundred meters Yee succeeded, while Hellwig and Baxter Cabrera also joined in not much later.
During the run, it was again Yee and Wilde who took the lead, but again no definitive differences were made. Thus, the leading group of six athletes dived into the water together for the start of the last heat.
Heat 3 – Yee versus Wilde, Yee wins with remarkable gesture
While the leading group stayed together again during the swim, Coninx did have a painful moment when he learned he had to serve a 5-second penalty for not putting his swim goggles away properly. Meanwhile, Wilde pushed the pace yet again on the bike, but even then the group stayed together, so the decision had to come in the final 1.6 kilometers of running.
Yee immediately had a bad transition, with his bike falling, costing him several seconds. Coninx, on the other hand, grabbed a small lead right away, and he had to, with the time penalty he still had to serve. When he did so midway through the run, Wilde immediately passed him as well as the other men except for Baxter Cabrera, causing Coninx to drop back to fifth place.
From then on, another head-to-head battle between Wilde and Yee ensued, with the men running side-by-side at bizarrely high speeds in the battle for the win. After a final sprint, it was Yee who took the win, and the gesture he made in the process, crossing his arms as if it didn’t bother him, was not reciprocated by Wilde who finished second. Coninx came in third.
