When Yee moved up alongside him late in the run Wilde tapped Yee on the back and congratulated him. They have raced together so often he knew that he could not now open up another big break on Yee to be able to serve his penalty and still hang on to win.

When they round the final bends and Wilde prepared to peel off to the penalty box the pair punched fists and Wilde slapped him on the back. Yee won in 50:34, Wilde was able to emerge from the box and run home for silver in 50:47 and Hauser 50:50.

Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle finished fourth in 51:06 while Brandon Copeland finished 22nd. Last year in Tokyo at the Olympics Birtwhistle was kicked in the face and had his nose broken in the farcical false start there. There was no such chaos in Birmingham.

“At end of the day I’m pretty happy with that, prouder than normally a fourth place would make me I think. It has been a rough year, I haven’t had any results to be proud of [but] I knew deep down it was still in me to get myself back in the mix,” Birtwhistle said.

Hauser, who came out of the water in sixth place, lost some ground in transition then made it up again to again get off the bike in sixth.

“I knew I would be up there with them, I have been challenging them for half the year; it was really good to be in the race and know where that ceiling is,” Hauser said.

“I was struggling there with the bike, I didn’t have much power in the legs, I knew I had a strong run in me and knew I could tough it out in the hills, so I tried to use that to my advantage with the long limbs running down hill after the bike transition.”

In the women’s triathlon, Australia’s Sophie Linn surged through the field in the final run leg, moving from 15th at the last change to finish fifth.

“I am absolutely stoked, I was stoked just to be here,” said Linn who ran 57:08.

“I thought I would keep dying [in the run leg] then I would hang on then die a bit then hang on. Coming around the last turn I know Non [Stanford from Wales] has a good sprint, so I was like I am just going to go for it and absolutely necked it down the finish [and overtook Stanford].”

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A former national level swimmer, the now 27-year-old moved to college in the US on a scholarship as a runner. A housemate was racing triathlons for the US and Linn made the move to the sport. And now her boyfriend is also a cyclist.

Fellow Australian’s Charlotte McShane finished 11th and Natalie van Coeverden 14th.

Bermuda’s Olympic gold medallist Flora Duffey won easily in 55:25, 41 seconds ahead of England’s Georgia Taylor Brown in silver.

After a strong day in both men’s and women’s events Australia is now in a good position to win back-to-back Commonwealth golds in the mixed team relay on Sunday.

Get all the latest news from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games here. We’ll be live blogging the action from 4pm-10am daily.