Triathlon New Zealand was optimistic Hayden Wilde's Commonwealth Games appeal would be successful but says the threshold for overturning field of play decisions is high.
Hayden Wilde with his silver medal. Photo: Photosport
Wilde has had his appeal dismissed by World Triathlon, meaning he will have to be content with his Commonwealth Games silver medal.
Wilde had appealed against the 10-second transition penalty he was given for unclipping his helmet before he had racked his bike during the men's race at the Birmingham Games in July.
The penalty cost the New Zealand No.1 the chance to sprint for the gold medal with British rival Alex Yee, with Wilde having led the race up to that point.
Tri NZ says it's disappointed with the result as it considers that there was no evidence of Wilde doing what was alleged.
Tri NZ and Wilde considered whether a further appeal, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), would be appropriate, but decided not to take the matter further.
Triathlon New Zealand CEO Pete de Wet said it typically can take a long time for appeal processes to come to a conclusion.
"And we got the decision a couple of weeks ago but we sat on the results for about two weeks just waiting on Hayden to complete competing in the Super League as well as to give us some time to digest the result and decide whether we were going to take it further with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport," de Wet said.
"We had a fairly good appreciation of our version of events. If you look at the evident we felt it supported our view that Hayden hadn't unclipped his helmut so we thought that we had a fairly good chance but World Triathlon didn't see it that way and then deferred the decision back to the field of play judgement."
De Wet said clear video footage was available for review.
"I guess the key thing is having a look at that footage and trying to make a determination as to whether the helmut's been unclipped or not.
"We felt that it hadn't and Hayden being in the middle of it is adamant that he didn't unclip it prior to racking his bike so I guess that's down to individual interpretation of what's in front of you and we had a specific view and obviously the World Triathlon tribunal had a different view."
New Zealand's Hayden Wilde waits for a 10 second penalty as England's Alex Yee wins the race. Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The World Triathlon Tribunal determined that in the absence of evidence of the penalty being imposed in "bad faith", they would defer to the judgement of the officials on the ground, giving deference to a decision that was made on the 'field of play'.
De Wet said that was a high threshold to meet.
"In order to overturn a field of play decision if the tribunal didn't see the evidence is supporting our view the only way we would be able to present the case would be to say the decision was made in bad faith, which we don't believe it was so that was never an area that we were ever going to go into.
"It is a high threshold and unfortunately in this instance our version of events didn't match up with the way that World Triathlon saw it."
Wilde will now direct his energy into winning the World Triathlon Championship Series at the season finale which is set to be decided in Abu Dhabi on November 27.
"I know what I did and I know what I did wasn't wrong [in Birmingham] but at the end of the day you kind of can't dwell on the past, you've just got to look to the future and I think that is what I'm doing currently," Wilde said.
"I've got my eyes set on a different goal now, as much as I wanted that gold medal in Birmingham.
"I've got my eyes set on being crowned a world champ which I think is a huge opportunity for me and for New Zealand.
"It's been a long time since we've had a world champ, the last time was Bevan Docherty [in 2004]. My goals are to look forward and try and get this world title and bring it back home to New Zealand."
After victories in Leeds and Hamburg and a pair of second placings in Yokohama and Montreal, Wilde will enter the WTCS decider in the UAE capital in the No.1 bib.
The Whakatane 25-year-old ironically finds himself racing Yee for the world title after Yee notched wins in Yokohama, Montreal and Cagliari, the latter a race Wilde bypassed, in addition to the final regular season event in Bermuda, opting instead to spend an entire month prepping in Abu Dhabi.
Wilde's 'Monk Mode' training block in Abu Dhabi comes after he was crowned Super League Triathlon champion in Neom, Saudi Arabia on October 29 after three wins and two third placings in the separate five-event series.
"For me, I'm in a good head space. I think I was a little bit dark on it but I just had to use that anger and frustration through Super League which I came home with [courtesy of] three wins and two podiums.
"So [I'll] definitely use that bit of frustration to build on heading into world champs," Wilde said.
"I always look forward to a good battle with Alex . He's been in some fine form and my form has been pretty good too so I'm really looking forward to this race."
De Wet said the close rivalry was good for the sport.
"They're great mates off the race track but it certainly sets it up for a thrilling end to the season so all Hayden has to do is win or come second and he'll clinch the world title.
"It'll be great to see them racing head to head again, Hayden will have a bit of extra motivation now that this appeal has come back and hasn't gone in his favour."
De Wet said the governing body were extremely proud of Wilde's silver medal in Birmingham and the "sportsmanship Hayden showed to the gold medal winner, Alex Yee, when he decided to take the penalty, knowing that this meant he was likely giving away his chance for gold.
"At the time Hayden did not know why he was being penalised but he showed respect to the decision issued on the field of play and to his fellow competitor. In doing so, he represented both New Zealand, and himself, with a high degree of integrity and sportsmanship."
