For the first time in the 43-year history of Australia’s popular Noosa Triathlon, sharks threw a wrench into the swimming leg; athlete safety could not be guaranteed, so the swim was called off. The 1,500-meter ocean swim was canceled after several sharks were spotted about 600 meters off the coast an hour before the start. The swim leg was replaced by an initial 5-kilometer run. Ultimately, the race was won by home favorites Matthew Hauser and Natalie van Coevorden, while Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms put in an excellent performance to finish fourth.
For Hauser, it was his second consecutive win at the Noosa Triathlon. The 2025 world champion and 2026 world championship runner-up went on the attack alongside compatriot Luke Willian during the 40-kilometer bike leg. During the second half, Willian had to let his fellow Australian go, leaving Hauser to ride solo from that point on. Hauser finished the race in style during the 10-kilometer run, eventually crossing the finish line in 1:39:34. Willian finished second, 3:25 behind, while John Reed took third at 4:19 back.
In the women’s race, Dutchwoman Wilms stood out with a strong cycling performance. She entered T2 in first place, but quickly saw Natalie van Coevorden and U23 world champion Richelle Hill take over the lead during the run. The young Hill managed to keep pace with Van Coevorden for a long time, but had to yield in the final kilometer. Van Coevorden won the Noosa Triathlon in 1:58:11, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Hill. Milan Agnew finished third, ahead of Lotte Wilms in fourth.
*This article is very brief – Triathlon Today was down for a week and a half following the global PHP vulnerability. Purely for the sake of completeness, we chose to publish this article anyway, albeit much later and far less extensively than usual.
