What happened at Dubai T100? Confusion, malfunctions, and anger in the men’s race

The penultimate race of the T100 series took place on Saturday in Dubai, with the men’s pro race setting off ahead of the womens in what turned out to be a historically controversial and utterly confusing day of racing. 

The men’s race went smoothly through the swim and into the fast multi-lap bike, with athletes cutting though Dubai’s urban landscape to complete eight laps of 8km. Continuing his string of dominant performances, Hayden Wilde quickly climbed up from eighth to first place on the bike and was leading heading into T2.

It started to look like another T100 win in the bag for the Kiwi. However, things didn’t quite play out that way as Wilde seemed to completely miss the exit into T2 and head back out on an additional bike lap, followed by Mathis Margirier (FR) and Marten Van Riel (BE). 

Later on the run, Wilde was seen visibly upset and sure that the other contestants had missed the final bike lap, he’s seen telling competitor Sam Dickinson “we were at 76k, so you had one [more] lap” to do. More confusion shrouded the finish too, with athletes unsure how many run laps they had completed due to a faulty timing board.

An awkward and unsure podium filled, final results pending and revised, and explanations eventually issued. Here are the details of what went down during the Dubai T100 race… 

What happened in the men’s race? 

The main confusion occurred during the men’s elite Dubai T100 race when several of the race leaders, notably race and overall series leader Wilde mistakenly rode an extra bike lap, with second and third chasers Van Riel and Margirier following suit. Wilde missed the turn into T2, going on to do an additional 8km lap on the bike, with commentators immediately recognising the error and commenting in surprise: “Jesus Christ Hayden, what are you doing?”. Despite going on to complete a strong run, the previous mixup caused Wilde to miss out on the top positions. 

That’s not all though. Later on the run, there was more confusion when athletes had trouble counting how many run laps they’d done. Not helped by the official lap-counting board seeming to offer incorrect data. This led to Mika Noodt of Germany apologetically crossing the finish line to break the tape in first position, despite having the impression that he was actually in second. Meanwhile, race leader Morgan Pearson was still on the course completing the final and eighth run lap.

In fast-paced elite races with multiple laps such as the T100 events, athletes rely on lap-counting boards and timing systems to orient themselves in the standings. Many of the pros choose to forego the use of a multisport watch due to their progress being monitored and relayed in-race. However, during this weekend’s T100 race in Dubai, the lap-counting system reportedly malfunctioned, with organizers later admitting a “technical issue” had occurred.  

After the finish, many of the athletes protested because it was unclear who had completed the correct number of laps and should be declared the winner. It was later eventually understood that Pearson had completed the correct number of laps and as he was leading after the seventh lap, was the actual race winner, while the three previous frontrunners before T2 were confirmed to have also completed one lap too many on the bike. 

After reviewing all the facts and following protest from athletes, the PTO and World Triathlon later issued an official statement outlining their position: “Because of the technical issue with lap counting, the official result was determined after the 7th lap”, since that was the last point at which timing data was said to be accurate. Based on this decision and after a vote from athletes, Pearson was declared the official winner with his first T100 win in a time of 3:06:17, with Noodt in second (3:06:53), and Gregory Barnaby (IT) rounding off the podium (3:07:41). 

It became clear after the race that 13 finishers had completed seven of the eight run laps, while only four athletes ran the full eight laps, including Pearson, Barnaby, Jason West, and Jake Birtwhistle. Despite having completely the race ‘correctly’, the four argued against the remaining 13 athletes being disqualified and an eventual agreement was voted that the results after lap seven of the run would be taken as the final race positioning.

Race coverage ended with a statement from PTO CEO, Sam Renouf: “Unfortunately this afternoon’s racing was overshadowed in the event by a technology problem that occurred during the run. As a result, following World Triathlon guidelines, we have taken the finish result based on the final point that we have full data, which was on the seventh [of eight] lap of the run. We’re happy to celebrate Morgan Pearson’s first win on the T100.”

Athlete reactions

On the run, Wilde was visibly upset and asking around for clarification. Immediately after crossing the line, Wilde asked camera crews for privacy while he pursued explanations from both the race organisers and fellow competitors. The final confirmed standings see Wilde positioned in eight place in a time of 3:11:10. Despite a tumultuous race in Dubai, Wilde still tops the T100 stands with 140 points heading into the final series race in Qatar next month.

Marten van Riel, who took the win in Dubai last year at the inaugural event, was particularly unhappy with how the events had unfolded, taking to social media afterwards to share that he felt massively let down:

“I am honestly quite devastated right now. I not only lost 10s of thousands of dollars, but I mostly feel let down by an organisation I tried supporting and sacrificed a big part of my season for. I think the professional can go and we can just call it the “triathlon organisation” from today onwards”

Fifth place finisher Vincent Luis had a different stance, shedding light on what went on behind the scenes on Instagram: “A lot of drama happened yesterday – the 3 race leaders doing an extra lap on the bike and the run lap counter being wrong and telling athletes to go to the finish instead of doing the last lap,”

“@t100triathlon actually asked us to vote and decide what would be the best solution. I am not sure I’ve ever seen any other organisation doing so.

“I believe everyone can make mistakes – athletes and organisers – the most important thing is to learn from them and do better.”

Of his second place position, Noordt said in an update on Instagram: “I’m very sorry for what happened to Hayden, Marten, and Mathis. They were honestly stronger than me today so very sad about the outcome of that. So it’s pretty mixed emotions.”

Injecting a bit of humour into the situation, third-place Barnaby commented in a later social media post: “What a crazy day it turned out to be! Definitely not the way I wanted to make it onto a T100 podium…But I’m happy with my overall performance and for counting the right laps.”

What happened in the women’s race?

By contrast, the women’s elite race was comparately without hiccup. No major lap-counting issues were reported, though that’s not to say with hot temperatures and choppy water conditions, the race was far from smooth. 

A fast start saw an initial swim pack form, led by Jess Learmonth, with Kate Waugh and Taylor Spivey following close behind. Having placed third in the previous race in Wollongong, Sara Perez Sala seemed to continue her strong performance in the earlier stages of the race, but would go on to DNF on the run. 

Onto the bike and the leaders were quickly caught by Switzerland’s Julie Derron, who formed a breakaway group with Learmonth and Waugh, building a significant gap from the chasing pack. Barring any mishap, the podium had been chosen. 

The final run saw a confident Derron continue to extend her lead until the finishing tape, crossing the line in a time of 3:27:50 and significantly boosting her overall T100 rankings coming into the grand final next month. Over the line in second was previous T100 race winner Waugh (3:31:03), with Learmonth following to take the final podium spot (3:33:46).