New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde won the Dubai T100 at Al Mamzar Beach Park on Saturday 14 November, less than 24 hours after finishing third at World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Abu Dhabi. In the women’s race, Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown took victory and moved to the top of the T100 Race to Qatar, with only next month’s World Championship Final left to race.
How Hayden Wilde won the Dubai T100
The reigning T100 World Champion pulled away from compatriot and training partner Kyle Smith over the last nine kilometres of the 18km run, crossing the line in 3:11:43, 1 minute 9 seconds ahead. Germany’s Mika Noodt finished third, back on the Dubai podium for a second year running after a serious bike crash in July.
It is Wilde’s third T100 win of the season, after Singapore and the French Riviera, and it makes up for his eighth place in Dubai last year. As each athlete’s best three results count towards the title, he now has the maximum 105 points and heads to Qatar 42 points clear of Smith.
“It’s a lot easier to first do the sprint and then the T100 than doing it the other way around,” said Wilde. “Coming out of the water, I just broke my toe, I think,” he added. “I felt it more on the ride, to be honest. It is what it is, but it should be right in a few weeks.”
A fast first race at Al Mamzar
This was the first Dubai T100 held at Al Mamzar, after two editions at Meydan. Germany’s Rico Bogen was first out of the water, but Wilde took control on the bike and only Smith, Noodt, Bogen and Switzerland’s Andrea Salvisberg could stay with him.
“The road was immaculate. It was great. It was super-fast,” said Wilde. “The run was actually really pleasant, something a bit different, and really rolling as well. I really like this course. It’s nice.”
Smith, who won Challenge Barcelona last month, was at the front throughout the swim and bike. “Hayden is just so good,” he said. “At the 10km mark of the run, I was feeling great, but I knew he was just waiting and waiting.”
For Noodt, second in Dubai last year, third place followed a long rehabilitation. “Physically, I was sure I was able to get back on the podium, mentally definitely not. I was not sure I could do it, but I’m very happy,” he said.
Georgia Taylor-Brown takes the lead in the Race to Qatar
Taylor-Brown won the women’s race in 3:35:19, 10 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Nicole van der Kaay, with Switzerland’s Julie Derron, the defending champion, in third. It was the Briton’s second T100 win of the season after Pamplona in May. She now has 96 points, six more than Derron, while Van der Kaay moves up to third on 63.
After a strong swim, Taylor-Brown was hit by cramps on the fourth lap of the bike and dropped to fourth, 36 seconds behind Germany’s Caroline Pohle at the second transition. She was back in front inside the first 5km of the run and held off Van der Kaay to the line.
“Nicole really kept me pushing it to the very end. But I won, and even if I only won by a second, you only need to win,” said Taylor-Brown. Van der Kaay, who recorded her best T100 result, said: “I know it’s been in me and I’ve had so many injuries and setbacks, so I’m really happy to get a result like this.”
Dubai T100 results
Each winner takes US$50,000 from the US$275,000 prize fund for each race.
Men
- Hayden Wilde (NZL) 3:11:43
- Kyle Smith (NZL) 3:12:52
- Mika Noodt (GER) 3:14:01
- Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) 3:15:12
- Menno Koolhaas (NED) 3:15:40
Women
- Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) 3:35:19
- Nicole van der Kaay (NZL) 3:35:29
- Julie Derron (SUI) 3:37:25
- Caroline Pohle (GER) 3:38:13
- Sara Pérez Sala (ESP) 3:38:50
What’s next: Sunday racing and the Qatar final
The day opened at 6:45am with the new amateur Olympic distance race, with almost 1,000 athletes on the course before the professionals. The Dubai T100 Triathlon Weekend ends on Sunday 15 November with the amateur 100km and the Sprint, and more than 3,000 amateur athletes from over 50 nationalities are racing across the weekend.
The world titles will be decided at the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final in Lusail City, where the women race on 11 December and the men on 12 December. Wilde, Smith and Taylor-Brown are all staying in the UAE until then. “We’re both going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp and some heat prep,” said Smith.
Event details
- Date: Sunday 15 November 2026
- Races: amateur 100km at 6:45am, Sprint at 10:45am
- Venue: Al Mamzar Beach Park, Dubai
- Event Village: 7am to 5pm, free entry for spectators
- Part of: the 10th Dubai Fitness Challenge (until 29 November), supported by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai Sports Council
- More information: t100triathlon.com/dubai
Planning to watch? Read our guide to the Dubai T100 Triathlon Weekend at Al Mamzar.
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