Hayden Wilde takes the day, but Alex Yee hangs on for the World Championship in Torremolinos

We wondered if there was any way Alex Yee might lose yet another world title this weekend, but in the end the British Olympic gold medalist came through with the world title that has proved so elusive. It was anything but easy, though, as Yee’s rival, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, put together an incredible race to take the win in the Grand Final in Torremolinos, Spain, but that wasn’t enough to wrest the title from Yee thanks to the Brit’s incredible season of racing that left him only needing a top-six to take the world championship. That meant his bronze-medal finish was more than enough.

Breakaway on the bike

Australia’s Matt Hauser kept the pressure up in the swim, leading a group of about seven out of the water, with Wilde about 14-seconds off the front and Yee down 22 seconds as he ran into T1. From there Hauser, Miguel Tiago Silva (POR) tried to get away, but it was France’s Leo Bergere (the bronze medalist at the Paris Games in July) along with Wilde, Vincent Luis (FRA), Tayler Reid (NZL) and Simon Westermann (SUI) who managed to get away.

That group of five managed to open up a gap of almost two minutes on the chasers, including Yee by the end of the 40 km bike, putting Yee’s world championship aspirations in jeopardy yet again.  The Olympic champ flew through the 10 km run, though, and managed to move himself up to the top three, which provided some breathing room.

Wilde continued his incredible day of racing as he charged through the run to take the win, with Bergere having another solid day to take the silver medal. Yee took the bronze medal, with Dorian Coninx and Pierre Le Corre taking fourth and fifth. Csongor Lehmann managed sixth, Reid seventh, with Luis ending up eighth and Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk finishing ninth. Hugo Milner ran an incredible 28:47 10 km split to move himself into 10th.

“I came out of the swim in a good position and had a plan to sit on the fourth wheel then Leo went out like a bat out of hell and I saw a gap and just thought, ‘why not?’, and we just worked so well together,” Wilde said after the race. “I had the same sort of plan as the Olympic Games really, two laps hard, one lap easy then go and had a really nice gap. It’s a bit disappointing not to win the World Championships but to win the Grand Final is something special.”

“It’s a bit of redemption for Paris, but more so for Weihai, that course was perfect for me,” Wilde continued. “Today I turned up with my bike legs back on and executed all three disciplines really well. I knew there was a little gap on the bike and I just put my head down and it was nice to go with Vince in his last race.”

You can see the full results list here.