Hauser ends stunning triathlon season with silver

Australia's leading triathlete Matt Hauser has claimed a silver medal in the season-ending World Triathlon Championship Series race in Abu Dhabi.

Gold Coast-based Hauser finished 18 seconds behind Brazil's Miguel Hidalgo, with New Zealand's Paris Olympics silver medallist Hayden Wilde in third.

The result confirms Hauser's second place finish in the overall season standings, with newly crowned world champion, Vasco Vilaça of Portugal, not racing in Abu Dhabi.

"I could really feel the legs in the back end of that race, I think I could feel the whole year in the back end of that race to be honest," said Hauser, who won four golds this season, as well as the Noosa Tri earlier this month.

"Miguel had too much out there today, you could tell he was really locked in and credit to him he did a lot of work on the bike as well. 

"So all round a really great race and good to see him back on top as well."

The race, originally scheduled for March but postponed due to security concerns in the region, took place after the grand final in Pontevedra.

However, the competition still provided valuable qualifying points for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

"I always think about LA, it's always in my mind, without overexposing my thoughts. It would be silly not to think about it," Hauser told AusTriathlon in the lead up to the Abu Dhabi event.

"It's a process and journey we've been on since Paris, I'm really focused on performing well at those Games."

The qualification period runs until May 18, 2028, with an athlete's 12 best results until then counting towards their overall ranking.

Fellow Australian Luke Willian came home in fifth place, with Luke Schofield 29th, Brandon Copeland 35th and Cal McClusky 40th.

"[It was good to see] Luke Willian having a sprint finish for fourth and fifth," Hauser said

"I'm just really stoked on the podium, it's been a big year and a long year at that."

In the women’s race, Matilda Offord was the best placed of the Australians finishing in 35th, with Sophie Malowiecki not finishing.

Russia's Diana Isakova claimed her first World Triathlon Series victory, surging away from Luxembourg's Jeanne Lehair, with American Gwen Jorgensen in third.

The race marks the end of the World Triathlon Series Championship races, as the tour combines with the Professional Triathletes Organisation to form a new Triathlon World Tour.

The new circuit will combined the existing T100 Triathlon World Tour and the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS), rebranded as the T100 World Championship Tour and T50 World Championship Tour respectively. 

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon today announced what the Triathlon World Tour brand will look like to fans and athletes when it starts next year, as well as the initial 2027 T50 and T100 World Championship Tour calendars.

"Our sport was really fragmented from a competition and commercial perspective, which was holding it back," World Triathlon president Antonio Arimany said earlier this year.

"We could have waited until the end of the current Olympic qualification before making the changes, but the changes we're making were too important to wait. 

"By introducing the Triathlon World Tour now, we are creating one unified structure and brand, which can unify as many events as possible, creating a win-win situation for all of us in the sport."