It had been a long period of acclimatization in the UAE leading up to the race, and Hayden Wilde was able to banish mixed memories of WTCS Abu Dhabi to take a scintillating sprint finish over Australia’s Matt Hauser.

Wilde had to claw back 30 seconds out of the water and he did so in style, reeling in the leaders and then even skewering the field late on in a three-man breakaway that didn’t quite stick. The legs were still very much there to shake off first Vasco Vilaça then Hauser to take the gold.

'I just went out there and had a bit of fun, you know,' said a delighted WIlde. 'I feel like this is my second home, I've been here for about three or four weeks and, you know, they just welcomed me in with open arms and I've just been loving it here. I got a breakaway with my breakaway mate again and it didn't really stick, but we had good fun out there!'

'I've raced Matt over the 5K many times and I saw his coach and he was like, “one more push!” and I'm like, I know, I know for sure he's got one more push, so I just had to hold the pace on, and he was coming hot, and I was just happy to hold on. But with Matt, Morgan, all those guys, I know I had to push hard on the bike to drop a few of the good runners and it looks like we did that and got away.'

The brand-new sprint-distance course packed plenty of surprises, not least a strong right-to-left current and bright glare to cope with on the 750m swim. Hauser took it all in his stride, slicing his way to the first buoy with Hidalgo on his feet, the single-file field saying it all about the pace.

That pair was followed out by Miguel Tiago Silva and the rising German bullet Henry Graf, Dutch duo Ian Pennekamp (on debut) and Mitch Kolman also well set, Wilde half a minute back with Adrien Briffod and Charles Paquet.

By the end of lap one the gap was 13 seconds, Jonas Schomburg also enjoying the ride, by the end of lap two, Wilde was almost onto Stapley, Hauser and Kolkman, by lap three he was leading the pack back past the crowds.  

He was able to roll the dice along with Simon Westermann and Tjebbe Kaindl and the trio carved out a useful gap before Vilaça and Hauser dug in to close it off, Ben Dijkstra also going well on his Series debut and upfront into T2.

Very soon it was the Wilde-Hauser-Vilaça trio with daylight to the chasers and that gap just edged further out at each split. Over 10 seconds at the bell, that was also when Vilaça started to drop off and then it was the Aussie and Kiwi shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Down the penultimate straight one last time with the wind at their backs, it was then that Wilde seized the moment decisively, breaking the Hauser challenge with a surge. The Australian never let up and it was full gas to the line, only two seconds separating the men at the finish, 18s back to Vilaça and an outstanding finish from Graf saw him into fourth a fraction ahead of Adrien Briffod.

Another excellent result from Ricardo Batista in sixth, followed by Spain’s Roberto Sanchez, Dijkstra, U23 World Champion David Cantero with a 14m05s run split the fastest by 8 seconds and Miguel Hidalgo.  

For the full results click here.