Sam Dickinson finishes second at Singapore T100 behind flying Hayden Wilde despite bike mechanical
The Brit was first out of the water and held on for second spot after dropping his chain on the bike leg
Sam Dickinson came a strong second behind the unstoppable Hayden Wilde at the Singapore T100 ahead of Mika Noodt in third.
The Commonwealth gold medallist was the fastest swimmer in 26:00, then lost two minutes on the 80km bike course to the New Zealander having shipped his chain on lap 5. On the run, the British Olympian was passed by Mathis Margirier but later caught the Frenchman to finish six minutes down on Wilde. This improved on the Brit’s previous best T100 finish of third at last year’s French Riviera event while Noodt secured his seventh T100 podium.
Speaking to race organisers after earning $35,000, Dickinson said: “I’m delighted … I managed to stay calm and stay cool and, and am super pleased to back up the hard work in the first race of the season. This is a good start.”
Having bagged $50,000 for the win, Wilde quipped: “Gotta pay for weddings somehow!”. Expanding on his race, he said: “I think it was harder this year than last year – and I just made sure I raced my own race. I think we started a bit earlier, so we were in the heat for a lot longer, and I think we only really got cloud cover until probably halfway through the run.”
The defending T100 men’s champion said even he struggled in the Singapore heat (water temperature was 30 degrees celsius), causing his heart rate to be high relative to his power, which he was temporarily without due to a power-meter dropout. He was pleased with his better swim performance. “Last year I was a minute back. We had more or less the same sort of swimmers up front and that felt really comfortable, felt good.”
How the race unfolded
After the swim in the Marina Bay in Singapore’s Financial District, Dickinson was followed by Henri Schoeman, Menno Koolhaas, and T100 debutant Matt Hauser with Wilde close behind.
On the bike leg on the Singapore Formula One course, Wilde attacked on the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and quickly gained a one-minute lead. Averaging 42.4kph, he extended his gap by 20 seconds by T2, where a quick transition increased his advantage. There was no catching him on the run. Dickinson looked to be fading but finished strongly to take second.
The next stop in the T100 World Triathlon Tour is the women’s T100 in Spain on 23 May. We’ll update our guide on how to watch the race closer to the time.
Jack Evans
