It was a day of firsts in the men’s race at WTCS Karlovy Vary as Germany’s Henry Graf claimed his maiden top tier win – and his first podium for that matter.
He had enough in hand to hold off a charging Miguel Hidalgo (BRZ) by seven seconds.
Csongor Lehmann (HUN) was third while young Brit Oliver Conway was a sensational fourth on his debut at this level.
Swim – Deja vu from Dévay
It was a familiar story in the swim as runaway WTCS leader Matt Hauser (AUS) put the hammer down on the first of two 750m laps.
But there was then a trademark move on the second lap when Márk Dévay (HUN) powered his way to the front.
The big loser was T100 leader Hayden Wilde (NZL) who was nearly two minutes back before the bike and – like his WTCS return on the French Riviera at the start of August – probably already out of contention.
Bike – Break proves decisive
Onto a technical and challenging bike course and the roads had dried up markedly compared to the morning’s women’s race, won by Beth Potter, when there were a number of fallers.
When things started to settle down after the field reached the first of seven laps, we had a front group of 15 who had opened up 30 seconds on the rest.
That group comprised the three men who would go on to finish on the podium plus Dévay, Hauser, Alessio Crociani (ITA), Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT), Seth Rider (USA), Chase McQueen (USA), Jack Willis (GBR), Max Stapley (GBR), Simon Westermann (SUI), Dorian Coninx (FRA), Vetle Bergsvik Thorn (NOR) and Diego Moya (CHI).
McQueen would drop off on lap two and it was on the third lap was when Graf and Dévay made what proved a race-defining move. They soon opened up a 12 seconds gap on the other 12 and over a minute on the rest, with Wilde now at 2:28.
They’d extended that to 28 seconds after four laps which was when Willis exited the chase group due to a front flat tyre.
At the start of the sixth lap Kaindl had bridged up to the front two with a brilliant ride and the front trio had 46 seconds on the rest by the time the bell came.
They just about maintained that into T2 – the question was would that be enough to hold off Hauser and the rest?
Run – Graf holds on
It was Graf, Dévay and Kaindl in that order starting the first of four 2.5km run laps and by the end of it Graf led by 10s ahead from Dévay and 22s from Kaindl, with 38s back to Hauser and the rest.
It then became Graf versus the field on the second lap as he led by 34 seconds and the out-and-back nature of the course meant he could see exactly how things were playing out behind him.
Hidalgo, the winner of WTCS Alghero earlier this season, came out of the pack and into second but the final spot on the podium was up for grabs and remarkably Conway was right in the mix for it on his debut.
Hauser had dropped back by this point – his focus is very much on the Grand Final and a first world title on home roads in Woolongong next month – and he can’t improve his points tally before then.
Onto the last lap and Hidalgo had 29 seconds to find and though he closed late on, Graf always looked to be just in control and was seven seconds to the good on the line despite high-fiving his way all the way down the blue carpet.
Henry Graf wins WTCS Karlovy Vary 2025 [Photo credit: World Triathlon]
Lehmann came through well for bronze while Conway announced himself on the world stage with that fourth.
Hauser was eighth at +1:03 while Wilde was 17th at +1:53.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” said Graf afterwards when interviewed by World Triathlon’s Doug Gray.
“You see the level of the guys and you often have doubts about whether you can even get a podium in a race like this. I can’t believe it and it hasn’t really sunk in right now – I think it needs a few days!”
WTCS Karlovy Vary 2025 results
Sunday 14 September 2025 – 1.5km / 40km / 10km
Elite Men
PositionNameNationalityOverall timeSwim timeBike timeRun time1Henry GrafGER01:49:2200:15:2601:02:2100:30:442Miguel HidalgoBRA01:49:2900:15:3801:02:5400:30:073Csongor LehmannHUN01:49:4600:15:2801:03:0600:30:254Oliver ConwayGBR01:49:4900:15:5001:02:3700:30:295Adrien BriffodSUI01:49:5200:15:5801:02:3200:30:326Alessio CrocianiITA01:50:1200:15:1901:03:0700:30:547Diego MoyaCHI01:50:1700:15:2201:03:1100:30:548Matthew HauserAUS01:50:2400:15:2401:03:0500:31:039Tjebbe KaindlAUT01:50:2700:15:5001:02:0700:31:4410Márk DévayHUN01:50:4100:15:1801:02:3100:32:01
WTCS standings after Karlovy Vary (which is race 6)
PositionNameNationalityCounting Races*Points1Matthew HauserAUS33000.002Miguel HidalgoBRA32780.633Vasco VilacaPOR32775.004Henry GrafGER32325.685Csongor LehmannHUN32068.786Dorian ConinxFRA31982.127Charles PaquetCAN31854.258Adrien BriffodSUI31776.929David Cantero Del CampoESP31752.3710Ricardo BatistaPOR31670.25*Best three races of WTCS season to count plus the Grand Final in Woolongong