Just one day after claiming third place at the WTCS Abu Dhabi, Hayden Wilde showed remarkable recovery: the New Zealander has just won the T100 Dubai, securing his third victory on top of a third place at San Francisco earlier this season. In the women’s race, victory went to Georgia Taylor-Brown, who, much like Wilde, entered the event as the top favorite.
The men’s podium battle primarily involved Hayden Wilde, Kyle Smith, Mika Noodt, Rico Bogen, Andrea Salvisberg, and Henry Räppo, before narrowing down to just Wilde and Smith on the run. The two New Zealanders ran shoulder-to-shoulder for the first ten kilometers until Wilde decided enough was enough and unleashed a decisive surge. Smith tried briefly to hang on but couldn’t match the pace, admitting afterward that he knew from the very start of the run he wouldn’t be able to beat Wilde.
Following previous victories at the T100 Singapore and T100 French Riviera, Wilde now has his third win of the series. As a result, the New Zealander heads into the Grand Final in Qatar in early December with a perfect score. Wilde won the race in a time of 3:11:43, with Smith finishing second in 3:12:52 and Noodt taking bronze in 3:14:01. Third place was particularly special for Noodt, who suffered a heavy crash at Ironman 70.3 Swansea in July and has dedicated everything to his rehabilitation since.
In the women’s race, Georgia Taylor-Brown ultimately claimed the win, fulfilling her pre-race billing as the favorite. Unsurprisingly, Spain’s Sara Perez Sala took the early lead during the swim. More notable, however, was the large deficit conceded in the water by another top favorite, Julie Derron, who trailed by over fifty seconds.
Perez Sala could not hold onto her lead for long on the bike, as contenders like Taylor-Brown, Kate Waugh, and Bianca Bogen moved past her. Waugh eventually lost a lot of ground, while Nicole van der Kaay and Caroline Pohle began to make their presence felt at the front. It was Pohle who managed to open up a small gap of a few seconds in the final kilometers of the bike leg, starting the 18-kilometer run in first place.
It didn’t take long for Taylor-Brown to reclaim the lead on the run, though the tension lasted all the way to the finish line: Van der Kaay stayed persistently close and ultimately crossed the line just ten seconds behind. Taylor-Brown took the win in 3:35:19, Van der Kaay finished second in 3:35:29, and Derron rounded out the podium in third at 3:37:25.
