Alex Yee proved top dog in a repeat of the Olympic podium as the Paris gold medalist edged out sprint series champion Hayden Wilde and Leo Bergere in a dramatic Supertri final in Neom.

In the women’s race, Georgia Taylor-Brown secured the fourth place she needed to win a third Supertri overall title, but it came in the end.

Had Beth Potter – who finished 2 seconds behind Taylor-Brown – made the pass, or if Jeanne Lehair had been able to overtake race winner Cassandre Beaugrand, then it would have been Luxembourg’s Lehair who knocked the Briton out of the top spot.

The fifth and final round of the 2024 series featured dramatic racing in the desert.

Tayler Spivey and then Vasco Vilaca both crashed on the bike while leading their respective races – and Lehair and Wilde bizarrely took their bike helmets on the run after mix ups in transition.

What happened in the women’s race?

Liv Mathias took the lead in the opening round of the triple swim-bike Enduro concept that has been adopted throughout the 2024 series which has been staged in Boston, Chicago, London, Toulouse and Neom.

It consisted of three fast continuous super sprint triathlons starting with a 300 m swim, followed by a 3.2 km four-lap ride and then a 1.6 km two-lap run.

Taylor-Brown struggled early while Mathias took the first short chute for Brownlee Racing and then entered T2 first to block another team earning the second short chute.

It was Olympic champion Beaugrand who claimed the final shortcut for Crown Racing to round out the opening mini-tri.

Stage two was headlined by Spivey – who still had a shot at the overall title – sliding out on a right-hand bend, before Lehair tangled his hair in his helmet strap and was forced to carry it for the first lap of the run.

That didn’t stop her from breaking clear at the front alongside Beaugrand, with Taylor-Brown knowing she would need to be placed comfortably among the chasers if she was not to let the title slip away.

There were countless changes for the final mini triathlon, but Beaugrand was just focused on adding another win to her amazing season where she added a world title in Torremolinos to her Olympic gold from Paris.

Not even a short chute for Lehair could stop Beaugrand’s charge, as Leonie Periault pulled through for third.

Taylor-Brown was grateful to hand over the short chute secured by teammate Beaugrand earlier in the race. Being able to cut the runway gave her an extra push to secure the fourth place that is ultimately required to take the overall series win.

And after victories in Chicago, London and Toulouse and a runner-up finish in Boston, few would deny that adding to her Supertri titles from 2021 and 2022 was a well-deserved success.

What happened in the men’s race?

After a second place in Boston followed by wins in Chicago, London and a third in Toulouse where a shoe came off on the run, it was Wilde’s losing streak in Neom.

It never looked quite likely, but the bigger question was who could take the bragging rights in the desert as Yee, Bergere and former world champion Dorian Coninx all lined up alongside Toulouse supertri winner Vilaca.

Not for the first time, Stars & Stripes’ Chase McQueen led out the opening swim, with Vincent Luis, in his final short course race, in close attendance.

Bergere then took the short chute for fastest through the bike leg and into T2, before Wilde, emulating Lehair in the women’s race, took off on the run with her helmet.

Vilaca showed his running legs to pip Yee and block Brownlee Racing from winning the final short chute, before the in-form Portuguese began to break away from the second mini-tri.

However, it ended in disaster when Vilaca overcooked a left corner to hit the deck and although he recovered and battled on it would eventually be timed out on the 90sec rule.

The final stretch saw the three leading athletes assert their authority and when it came to the final run, Wilde, Yee and Bergere – the only one of the trio to have been given a short chute – were clear.

Wilde rose first as he had done in the Paris Olympics, but it all came back and around the final bend it was Yee who kicked home, just taking the tape from Wilde, with no more than 2 seconds between all three.

Supertri Neom 2024: Women’s results

1. Cassandre Beaugrand 53:25

2. Jeanne Lehair +8s

3. Leonie Periault +19s

4. Georgia Taylor-Brown +23s

5. Beth Potter +25p

Supertri Neom 2024: Men’s results

1. Alex Yee 48:25

2. Hayden Wilde +1 sec

3. Leo Bergere +2

4. Dorian Coninx +21

5. Tim Hellwig +27

Supertri 2024: Final women’s standings

1. Georgia Taylor-Brown 59 points

2. Jeanne Lehair 57 points

3. Cassandre Beaugrand 56 points

4. Taylor Spivey 48 points

5. Kate Waugh 44 points

Supertri 2024: Men’s Final

1. Hayden Wilde 62 points

2. Leo Bergere 55 points

3. Tim Hellwig 49 points

4. Alex Yee 47 points

5. Dorian Coninx 43 points

Supertri 2024: Final team standings

1. Crown Racing 420 points

2. Podium Racing 391 points

3. Stars & Stripes 338 points

4. Brownlee Racing 312 points