Alex Yee ready to roll the dice in Torremolinos Championship Finals

by doug.gray@triathlon.org on 16 Oct, 2024 10:39 • Español

In one of the great triathlon finishes of all time, Alex Yee won sport’s biggest prize when he soared to Olympic gold at Paris 2024. On Sunday afternoon in Spain, the Brit will have the chance to add the world title to his list of honours, when he goes up against the best in the world - and some familiar Finals foes.

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It could be another face-off with Olympic silver medallist Hayden Wilde ahead. It could be another opportunity for France’s Leo Bergere to swoop in and steal the show. Then there’s the likes of Matt Hauser, Luke Willian and Pierre Le Corre, past finals influencers Morgan Pearson and Vasco Vilaca, plus one last dance from the great Vincent Luis before he departs the blue carpet.

A beach start for the 1.5km swim transitions to an 8-lap, 40km bike with a sharp climb on each loop, and a very flat and fast 10km run along the seafront to the tape. Tune in to TriathlonLive.tv from 17:00 on Sunday 20 October.

Will it be fourth time a charm for Yee?

Three Olympic-distance wins in 2024 sees Alex Yee on top of the pile heading to the finals, where 1250 points are available to the gold medallist. In Cagliari, he narrowly outran Hayden Wilde. In Paris, he came back from nowhere to win at the death, and in Weihai it was a more comfortable 46second margin over Leo Bergere.

The form is all with Yee, not for the first time going into the final race of the Series. Torremolinos represents a fourth bite at the world championship cherry, a title that has slipped through his fingers on three occasions.

This time around he will look to forget about the rankings wranglings and concentrate on the top six finish that would make him World Champion. His Paris wingman Samuel Dickinson is among seven Brits lining up looking to do just what the French have the past two years and seal their country’s first men’s world title since 2012.

Bergere back on the attack

World Champion in 2022, overall bronze in 2023, Olympic bronze in 2024.Seemingly flawless across all three disciplines, Leo Bergere has become a hard man to shake off. Over 400 points behind Yee, he knows that surely only a podium – and, in reality, probably the win – will do if he is to take the title.

Hayden Wilde has gone bronze and silver in the 2022 and 2023 Series final standings. Like Yee, he will have gone into both hoping for more. This time around he will want to do exactly what Bergere and Coninx did in those races and cross the line first to give himself every possible chance of taking the title. He may not have had the bike legs in Weihai, but the New Zealander will see that as a mere blip, pouring fuel on the fire of the challenge ahead.

Matthew Hauser chases a first Series podium, and will want to bounce back from Weihai disappointment with the kind of race that saw him help blow apart the 2022 finals in Abu Dhabi.

In-form European Champion Csongor Lehmann and Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo have both hit a WTCS podium for the first time this year and will feel they can do so again on Sunday. Morgan Pearson and Vasco Vilaca also have the Series podium within mathematical reach but, perhaps more realistically, a big finish would have massive implications on the world title for those above them in the rankings.

A superb 8th place in Paris means that home hero Alberto Gonzalez Garcia represents Spain’s biggest threat, and expect him, Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) and Hugo Milner (GBR) to be ready to detonate the 10km run and finish their years in style.

Men’s 2024 Championship Finals 20 October 17:00
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