Hayden Wilde has won the season-opening T100 triathlon in Singapore. File pic. Photo: Photosport
Hayden Wilde has started the international triathlon season on a winning note, engaging in high-fives with fans before the finish line in the Singapore T100.
Wilde, more noted for his deeds over shorter courses, chalked up his first T100 win in his first attempt. A T100 is 100km, with a 2km swim, 80km on the bike and an 18km run.
Wilde, who claimed the silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year after looking the winner for much of the race, made no mistake at Marina Bay in Singapore, easing right down at the finish to win by two minutes, 35 seconds over Paris Olympics bronze medallist Léo Bergère, who was also making his T100 debut.
He finished the swim in 15th place, before surging to the front on the bike leg, trading the lead with Rico Bogen for much of the 80km.
Wilde kept up the pressure on the run, with Bogen fading to 10th, and the New Zealander clearly enjoyed his easy win, slowing to a walk as he traded high-fives with fans.
He got US$25,000 (NZ$45,000) for the win and 35 points in the Triathlon World Tour T100 standings.
He finished in three hours, 18 minutes and 11 seconds, and had the day's fastest run split of 1:01.46.
Wilde had indicated after Paris that he would be giving the Olympic triathlon distance (a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run) a break to focus on longer events this year as there is no event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
He said it was good to win his first T100 race on debut.
"It's nice the hard work in winter went well but for this sort of race, it's really hard to know where you are in a sense - it's super hot and once you go over the line, it's hard to recover.
"The next few races will be a lot different, but I'm just really happy to take this one and set the season off to a really good high."
"We were quite lucky to start a little later than the women. On the run, we got a nice little bit of cooler breeze - it was nice to get the heart rate down a little bit. The ride was really hot - the sun was out and it was hard to control the heart rate. But the legs felt good out there today, just keep driving, fuelling and making sure to put water on."
Reigning T100 world champ Marten Van Riel from Belgium was third.
The next T100 event is in San Francisco on 31 May. The world championship final is in Qatar on 12 December.
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