WTCS Weihai results: Olympic champion Alex Yee returns to his very best with SPECTACULAR win as Hayden Wilde well beaten

Britain’s Alex Yee returned back to his very best with a spectacular victory at WTCS Weihai on Friday with great rival Hayden Wilde well beaten.

Yee had admitted being “mentally tired” following recent supertri defeats by Wilde in Chicago and London in the aftermath of that spectacular golden effort in the Olympic Games at Paris 2024 on July 31.

But he was absolutely brilliant here, being right up with the leaders exiting the water and then an integral part of the front pack on the bike. The race was set up for the British great to dominate on the final leg, and he did not disappoint.

Yee’s run was stellar, as he romped to an utterly dominant victory by a massive margin. Paris bronze medallist Léo Bergere was a distant 46 seconds away in second with Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo taking the final step on the podium.

Wilde would eventually come home in seventh place, exactly 100 seconds behind the sensational winner, who had produced a flawless display of all-round brilliance.

Britain’s Alex Yee romps to a spectacular victory at WTCS Weihai (Photo – World Triathlon).

Swim – Hauser leads, Yee gets super start

Australia’s Matt Hauser, who led the WTCS standings coming into Weihai, also led the field out of the water in China in a time of 17:26.

Hauser had plenty of company though with only eight seconds separating the top 10 and a massive pack likely to set the pace on the bike.

Directly behind Hauser were Vincent Luis of France, Alberto Gonzalez Garcia of Spain, Dylan McCullough of New Zealand and Kyotaro Yoshikawa of Japan.

We also had a British trio in that top 10 with Max Stapley seventh, Connor Bentley eighth and eventual winner Yee perfectly positioned in 10th.

That man Wilde had more work to do as he exited the water in 20th position, some 16 seconds behind Hauser. Paris bronze medallist Léo Bergere meanwhile was ninth, right in front of Yee. It was all to play for on the bike.

Bike – Yee primed, Wilde dropped

By the time we reached the first split on the brutal bike course, Wilde had pretty much bridged back up to a big front pack, which numbered around 20 athletes including the Kiwi superstar. As ever, the question would be how much effort Hayden had expended to get himself into contention.

By the end of the first lap the front pack was now down to 11 with Yee still in the perfect position while Wilde along with a number of other athletes had been dropped – at least for now – following a tough uphill section. The Kiwi was now 17 seconds back, but could he bridge back up again?

The front pack of 11 included Yee, Bergere, Luis and another two Brits in Stapley and Jack Willis and they continued to lead the way on Lap 2 as an unusually brutal course really took its toll. Pierre Le Corre was around 10 seconds off the front pack in no man’s land, with a further seven seconds to the chasers including Wilde.

By the end of Lap 2 the big surprise was that chase pack, which now included Le Corre, was actually continuing to lose ground on the leaders. It was around 30 seconds away and failing to make any inroads. It was looking tough for Wilde to make any sort of impact now.

McCullough was cutting out most of the work at the front of the lead pack on Lap 3, and doing a great job as the chasers continued to struggle in comparison. Yee meanwhile was also happy to take his turn at the front, re-iterating his oft-made point that he wants true triathlon tests. The course was proving a real challenge at this stage, with Le Corre and Wilde toiling in vain to bridge back up.

Any hopes of Wilde, Le Corre and co getting back into the race were fading badly by the end of Lap 3, with the gap to the leaders now 36 seconds and still growing.

Lap 4 saw the first signs of anybody dropping out of that front pack with Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez Garcia struggling to stay attached. But the big news was the gap from leader Yee to the chasers, including Le Corre and Wilde. It was now a quite astonishing 59 seconds and growing all the time – another Yee vs Wilde run battle was now looking highly unlikely.

Into the second half of the bike leg and Yee was looking in prime position to claim his third win from three WTCS races in 2024 – he was looking right back to his very best so far.

Bergere led the leading pack of 11 (with Gonzalez Garcia now properly attached again) through the end of Lap 5, but that gap to the chasers was still continuing to grow – it was now 1:10. Only an astonishing turnaround could get them back into contention as Wilde and Le Corre just could not so far drive their group to any improvement.

We got the first break in that front group on Lap 6, with Yee, Bergere and Willis gapping the remaining eight athletes. They had eight seconds to spare by the time the field came through to start another lap. The gap to the next chasers had started to stabilise just a little, but Wilde and co were still 1:14 away and nowhere in terms of the actual race.

The front pack was once again back up to 11 athletes by the time the field took the bell with just one more lap remaining. The gap to the chasers was ballooning again – Hauser, Wilde, Le Corre and co were now 1:40 away and it was now a futile exercise.

Gonzalez Garcia led the field into T2 after a blistering bike leg on an extremely challenging course, but Yee was perfectly positioned as he followed the Spaniard out onto the run course. We had just 9 seconds separating that group of 11 athletes.

There was slightly better news for the chasers as they arrived in transition, but only slightly. They were now 1:23 down on the leaders with the run to come. Wilde’s hopes of a podium appeared to be well and truly over.

Run – Yee first, the rest nowhere

Yee wasted absolutely no time at all in stamping his run class on the race on the opening lap, blasting clear of his rivals to take a commanding early advantage in the first kilometre. It was a terrific performance so far from the 26-year-old Londoner. Bergere and Hidalgo were the next mini-group as they gave vain chase, but it was Yee’s win barring any disasters. He led by 13 seconds from Hidalgo and Bergere as he completed Lap 1 of 4. Then came Luke Willian of Australia and Britain’s Willis.

Alex continued to pour it on during Lap 2 as he extended his massive gap to Bergere and Hidalgo, it was breathtaking stuff for the Brit as he padded his lead to 32 seconds at the halfway stage of the run.

Yee was now in total cruise control and he further increased his lead to 37 seconds at the bell. Then came Bergere and Hidalgo, with the remainder an astonishing 1:20 further back. Alex had broken this race wide open.

The main interest now was the battle for silver, and Bergere tried to make a decisive break on Hidalgo early in the final lap, and it looked like the French star was going to make it stick as well. There was no immediate response from the Brazilian.

Up front though it was Yee in spectacular form as he continued to surge clear to claim victory by a massive 46 seconds over Bergere, with Hidalgo claiming the final spot on the podium.

WTCS Weihai 2024 results

Friday September 27, 2024 – Weihai, China

Elite Men

1. Alex Yee (GBR) – 1:48:21 (17:34 / 1:00:04 / 29:40)

2. Léo Bergere (FRA) – 1:49:07 (17:34 / 1:00:06 / 30:26)

3. Miguel Hidalgo (BRA) – 1:49:18 (17:36 / 1:00:04 / 30:38)

4. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia (ESP) – 1:49:47 (17:31 / 1:00:07 / 31:10)

5. Vincent Luis (FRA) – 1:49:52 (17:29 / 1:00:10 / 31:12)

6. Luke Willian (AUS) – 1:49:58 (17:36 / 1:00:03 / 31:18)

7. Hayden Wilde (NZL) – 1:50:01 (17:42 / 1:01:26 / 29:55)

8. Dylan McCullough (NZL) – 1:50:03 (17:31 / 1:00:06 / 31:20)

9. Jack Willis (GBR) – 1:50:18 (17:39 / 1:00:03 / 31:37)