Matt Hauser is finding top form ahead of next year’s Olympic Games, finishing strongly to win Australia's first men's gold at the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) in four years.
Hauser, the first Australian male to win a round of the WTCS since Jake Birtwhistle in 2019, produced the fastest swim and run times to beat Brazil’s Manoel Messias into second place by 11 seconds.
He broke free of a group of eight athletes with less than one kilometre to run, dropping all but Messias and hanging on for the win.
Hauser, ranked fifth overall in the world championship series, was delighted to finish one step higher on the podium than his second place in Yokohama in May.
“After Yokohama … I knew I had a better lead-up in my preparations,” he said.
“I felt good out there today and got the job done. It’s instinct, you’ve just got to act in the moment.
“I knew the other guys were just settling into a rhythm and you can’t let that happen. I knew the sooner I went, the better.
“I was lucky enough to break them up, but it was a big group of guys on the run, and it certainly wasn’t wrapped up until the end.”
Birtwhistle finished 11th for his best result in two seasons.
Hauser led out of the 750-metre swim but struggled on the 20km bike leg in slippery conditions, relying on his red-hot 5km run to beat out Messias and Belgium’s Jelle Geens, who finished third.
The Tokyo Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt, from Norway, finished fifth in the 55-man field.
Australia’s Emma Jackson and Sophie Linn finished 23rd and 24th respectively in the women’s race, which was won by Britain’s Beth Potter.
Australia’s triathletes will head to the Paris Olympic test event next month, before the World Triathlon grand final in Spain in September.
