Wilde, Waugh set for world title bids after training in AD

Championship leaders Hayden Wilde and Kate Waugh head to Qatar this week for the TIOO Triathlon World Championship Final after completing their final preparations in Abu Dhabi.

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New Zealand's Wilde and Great Britain's Waugh have spent the past three weeks training in the UAE capital following the Dubai TIOO in mid-November - a strategic decision that has allowed both title favourites to acclimatise to Gulf conditions ahead of Friday's season-defining finale in Lusail.

Wilde, who won five consecutive TIOO races this season - in Singapore, London, the French Riviera, Spain and Wollongong - used Abu Dhabi as his base for the final phase of preparation. His dominant run is all the more remarkable given the horror bike crash he suffered in Japan at the start of May, which punctured his lung, broke six ribs and left him needing surgery on his left scapula.