Dan Dixon led the way for the British U23s as he finished fifth, with a disqualification from Spain’s Esteban Basnata Fouz moving the Brit up from his sixth-place finish on the course. Teammate Hamish Reilly was promoted to 13th with Sam Hart recording a DNF as he dropped out on the run.
Dixon and Reilly were 16th and 15th respectively after lap one of the swim section, with Hart in 30th as Italy’s Alessio Crociani set the early pace. As the swim progressed and the athletes entered T1, Reilly moved up to eighth place as Dixon dropped to 23rd with Hart 28th.
During the bike leg, a large group formed at the front of the race with Reilly joined by 16 other athletes, and Dixon and Hart riding in the chasing pack.
The British duo were with the leaders by the halfway point though as just six seconds separated the top 26 when the two groups merged.
Hart was soon dropped from the lead group and caught by the chasing pack, as Reilly and Dixon changed positions regularly, with both Brits leading the race at points on the bike.
Everyone began looking for position heading into T2 and that was where Fouz (ESP) picked up his disqualification for leaving the marked course.
As the 10km run began, France’s Bejamin Passemard took the lead with Reilly climbing to eighth and Dixon sitting in tenth. It was on the run that Hart dropped out with cramp as Dixon made his move up the field.
The young Brit from Northumberland worked his way up to seventh at the 5km mark with Reilly in ninth. The duo then went in opposite directions as Dixon looked to close in on the podium places, and got within 12 seconds of Mitch Kolkman and Passemard in third and fourth respectively, Reilly dropped out of the top-ten.
As Kolkman and Passemard moved ahead of Fouz, Dixon dropped down the order with Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados moving ahead of him, leaving Dixon to settle for fifth place. Further back Reilly finished the day in 13th.
The first day of World Triathlon Championship Finals comes to an end with Alex Yee’s quest to become world champion in the men’s WTCS race. Barclay Izzard, Max Stapley and Jonny Brownlee are also in action in that race.
