Men's Heats: Yee Overcomes Penalty As Favourites Come Through Wilde Makes Impressive Debut

Men’s Heats: Yee Overcomes Penalty As Favourites Come Through Wilde Makes Impressive Debut

Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift World Championship frontrunners Justus Nieschlag and Aurelien Raphael made it safely into the finals in Singapore as Alex Yee overcame a five-second penalty to keep his chances well and truly alive.

Munich winner Raphael and Yee made it through a stacked heat 3, which also included Max Stapley and Chase McQueen.

Raphael had the fastest time in the men’s heats with a 25:25 in which he again underlined his swimming prowess, this time in the open water of Marina Bay Reservoir. Yee showed his frustration as he was given a time penalty for having his towel out of his box, but composed himself to cruise through in 25:42.

Heat 1 saw a storming performance from Kenji Nener who went hard throughout as Marten Van Riel came home in second to ensure he also qualified automatically for the final.

Hayden Wilde made his Arena Games Triathlon debut in Heat 2 and showed he could well shake up the established order. While he is unlikely to win the title, his presence could have a big impact on who does.

He blasted through his heat in some style with a 25:35, the second fastest men’s time of the day, while Justus Nieschlag, who heads the points table alongside Raphael after his win in London, also made it safely through.

The athletes placed 3-7 and the five fastest losers have made it through to the two repechage tomorrow morning. The top two in each qualify for the final in the afternoon.

Wilde said: “It was absolutely awesome. I think we are the first people in the fresh water here and I had to get a gap on the first stage and played it easy in the second stage on the water and played my cards right and took it easy for the last 400m of the run.

“I love the heat and guys like Kenji and Marten will make it very intense so I look forward to that.”