Kiwi triathlete Hayden Wilde has launched an official protest over the controversial time penalty that may have cost him a gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Wilde was given a 10-second penalty, after he was ruled to have unclipped his helmet before docking his bike at the end of the cycle leg. Rules state the helmet must be securely fastened before a bike is unracked and remain in place "until the bike is securely racked again".
The 24-year-old was forced to yield on the home straight and allow rival Alex Yee from England to claim gold, consigning him to a silver medal.
Yee also denied Wilde a higher medal finish at last year's Tokyo Olympics, forcing the Kiwi to settle for third.
The protest could take up to 30 days to adjudicate and could see the Whakatane product promoted to share gold with Yee.
"I think it's unfair what they did there, but that's racing at the end of the day," Wilde said."You've got to be happy about that."
He added the penalty had created uncertainty in his mind during the run leg to the finish.
"I knew exactly what it was, which is extremely debatable," he said. "I had to weigh up, 'do I get disqualified and then protest, or do I get that second place?', and I'm not going to risk that for my country.
"I didn't really know what to do. Potentially, I should have taken it on the first lap, and then try and hunt Alex down, or see if I can hold him off."
Fellow Kiwi Tayler Reid faded on the run to finish eighth, while teammate Dylan McCullough came in seventh.
