He has been the outstanding male athlete of 2025, now Matt Hauser will want to see the campaign through in style on 19 October in Wollongong and become Australia’s first World Champion since Peter Robertson in 2005 and the first person to win a world title on home soil since Gwen Jorgensen in 2015.
And what a stage it would be to do it on. The Wollongong course is a mighty Olympic-distance challenge, and after seven races the numbers may be firmly in his favour, but this is triathlon and this is a Grand Final and, as we have seen so often, anything can happen. Here’s the breakdown of the major players in the all-important men’s Championship Finals.
Check out who-needs-what-to-win here and watch on 19 October 2025, coverage starts 4.40pm, race starts 5pm, TriathlonLive.tv.
#1 MATT HAUSER (AUS)
3000 points
WTCS 2025: 2-1-2-1-1-8
Going into the Finals with the maximum three wins and 3000 points, Matt Hauser has risen to the occasion in 2025. Six races, three golds, the 27-year-old former Junior World Champion’s season just got better and better heading to a home final, before using his last outing in Karlovy Vary as something of a yardstick of Olympic-distance feel rather than result.
Hauser’s swim has been flawless, his early bike power has been a major factor in the breakaways sticking and he has found ways to dig in on the run when pushed hardest. The only people to really break him this year have been Hayden Wilde in Abu Dhabi and that huge early surge from Miguel Hidalgo in Alghero. A medal of any colour and the world title is his, regardless of anyone else’s finish.
#2 MIGUEL HIDALGO (BRA)
2780 points (-220)
WTCS 2025: 10-3-1-4-3-2
Not since Alexander Manzan in 1998 had a Brazilian won a top-tier World Triathlon race, but the manner of Miguel Hidalgo’s gold at May’s WTCS Alghero suggested he knew that it was coming, just a matter of when. The confidence of this year’s consistency will be flowing through him, as well as the fact that it was Hauser that he was able to beat tactically in Sardinia with that early burst of pace.
Sixth in the Championship Finals Pontevedra two years ago, it is over the Olympic distance that Hidalgo has thrived, scoring the second fastest run in Karlovy Vary (behind Hayden Wilde), third fastest in Alghero (Cantero and Milner), and likewise in Yokohama (Hauser and Vilaça) so far this campaign. He will be looking to jump straight onto Hauser’s feet and hang on over the two-lap swim for a possible breakaway.
#3 VASCO VILAÇA (POR)
2775 points (-225)
WTCS 2025: 3-2-31-2-2
There isn’t a man on the circuit that has had the kind of consistent podium success of Vasco Vilaça without winning a Series gold. Six silvers and two bronze to his name, this would be the perfect moment for the 25-year-old to ‘pull a Bergere’ and take gold and possibly even the title in Hauser’s back yard. Going in as the underdog and able to race free of pressure could be the ideal scenario for the Portuguese wunderkind.
Each of those four podiums this term have been in the shadow of Hauser. The closest he got to breaking the Australian was in the French Riviera, a huge final-kilometre push hauling him back in contention but burning too many matches in the process. A smart bike and that almighty 10km run to Paris Test Event silver behind Alex Yee will be exactly the kind of performance he needs to channel here.
#4 HENRY GRAF (GER)
2657 points (-343)
WTCS 2025: 4-5-8-1-2
The breakthrough story of 2025 belongs to Germany’s Henry Graf. Still a U23 athlete, he will race his first Grand Final off the back of a hard-earned win in Karlovy Vary and silver in Weihai, the perfect preparation for some finals fireworks? Graf’s desire to push the bike as hard and fast as possible has reaped big rewards and his patient run in Weihai proved a tactical masterclass. Will he keep his cool in the heat of Wollongong?
Of course, the chances of those above him in the rankings allowing him to be patient are close to zero. At 37 seconds off Hidalgo’s run pace in Karlovy Vary and a minute off Wilde’s, that minute lead he had managed to carve out off the bike was crucial to winning gold. Expect him to find allies for another big break across the 40km in Wollongong.
THE OTHER PLAYERS
In terms of outside podium contenders, we need look no further than 2023 World Champion Dorian Coninx (FRA), another home favourite Luke Willian, and Hungary’s Csongor Lehmann. Fourth in Alghero and Weihai, Willian simply doesn’t have a weak discipline and may prove to be a big ally for Hauser in the quest for an Aussie World Champion.
Coninx took fourth in the French Riviera, but has had an inconsistent 2025 campaign, while Lehmann appears to have paced his season beautifully, bronze in Karlovy Vary and a supertri series win potentially setting him up to improve on his career-best fifth last season.
Not in a position to land a Series podium but likely to have a big impact on the way the race could play out is Hayden Wilde (NZL). A bike accident at the start of May deprived the season of a major player for three months, but he was back with the fastest run by a cool 20-second margin in Karlovy Vary and, as a Kiwi whose own title ambitions were curtailed by Hauser in 2022, would surely love to upset the apple cart and create some drama in Australia.
Other bullets likely to be able to wedge themselves in between the ranking leaders and a date with Series podium destiny over the 10km run are Spain’s David Cantero and Alberto Gonzalez, USA’s Morgan Pearson and John Reed and WTCS Weihai winner Max Studer (SUI). Expect Mark Devay (HUN) and Alessio Crociani (ITA) to dart the swim, and Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) to be a big driver of a move or two on the bike.