Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee from Great Britain shortly after the race finish. Photo: Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz
Hayden Wilde had hoped it would come down to this. Just him and his long-time friend and rival, Alex Yee of Great Britain, duking it out on the run leg on the picturesque streets around Paris for the Olympic triathlon title.
He got the showdown he wanted. The result - a silver medal - he is happy to settle for, knowing he chanced his arm.
For nine of the 10-kilometre final sprint leg, Wilde raced like a god. He spotted his opportunity early on the second leg, when Yee looked to be slowing up and taking the opportunity to recover, and made a bold surge.
And he continued to surge, extending his gap over the Brit to 10, then 12, then 15 seconds. As the sun bore down on the central streets of Paris, illuminating its famous landmarks, Wilde looked to be cruising.
Hayden Wilde in front near the end of the triathlon. Photo: Screenshot/BBC
But over the final kilometre, despite his best attempts to keep a "poker face", the heat, and the red-hot pace he set on the run, had clearly begun to catch up with him. Soon, Yee would too.
Just 400m from the finish line alongside the gilded columns on the Pont Alexandre III, Yee summoned one last push to streak past the Kiwi. Wilde could not respond.
"I was just depleted. I was gone. I was done. I had nothing left and I just had to survive to get to the finish line," Wilde says of that moment Yee ran past him to snatch the gold from his grasp.
Wilde crossed the finish line six seconds after Yee to claim New Zealand's second medal of the Olympic Games, following the Black Ferns Sevens historic victory at the Stade de France the previous night (Paris time).
And when all was done, Wilde sat down beside the Brit, who had collapsed just beyond the line, and draped his arm over Yee's shoulder. Together they reflected on another chapter in their storied rivalry.
"It was actually really nice. Alex and I finally got the battle that we both deserved and there were no penalties. Both of us finished and it was just a clean, fair race for the both of us," says Wilde, referencing the contentious penalty at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games that ruined the sprint finish between the pair.
"It was just everything that we dreamed of - a foot battle for an Olympic gold medal. We go back eight years when we roomed together in Jersey for the Super League tri. To be together on the podium eight years later, it was something special."
The pair also shared the podium at the Tokyo Olympics, where Yee claimed silver behind Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt, who could only manage 12th in Paris, and Wilde bronze.
Gold medallist Britain's Alex Yee, centre, silver medallist New Zealand's Hayden Wilde, left, and bronze medallist France's Leo Bergere stand on the podium during the victory ceremony in Paris. Photo: AFP/ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
Yee pays tribute to Kiwi
Yee later told a press conference that his long-running battles with Wilde in the years since Tokyo had driven them both to new levels.
The clock told the story. Yee's final time for the run leg was an astonishing 29:47. The pair both averaged under three minutes per kilometre - all after completing a 1.5km swim and 40km bike ride.
"The level of our running at the moment is unfathomable," Yee said.
"It's amazing to be part of this level of short course and to be pushed by Hayden and to have those battles is something I'll relish forever, as much as winning a gold medal."
'What he did out there was selfless'
That Wilde was even in contention for the run leg was largely down to the efforts of teammate Dylan McCullough.
Wilde got off to a rough start in the race, which was delayed a day due to bacteria levels in the Seine being deemed unsafe for swimming, emerging from the water one minute off the front group and 30 seconds back from Yee.
The Seine swim leg presented a brutal challenge with the whirling currents adding an extra layer of fatigue to what is already one of the most physical of Olympic tests.
Early in the bike leg Wilde found a few "allies" in the chase pack to get the deficit on the lead group, which included McCullough and Yee, to 30 seconds.
Dylan McCullough Photo: OIS
Not wanting to risk Yee getting any further advantage, New Zealand coach Craig Kirkwood got a message to his young charge on the course. It came via the simplest of mediums - a white board. The message read: "drop back".
McCullough obligingly sat up on his bike and drifted back to the group to give them a "tow" back to the main bunch.
By the end of the bike leg, which took in some the city's most famous landmarks, including the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees, the 19-man lead group had swelled to a mass of 32. McCullough had set the stage for an epic footrace between Wilde and Yee.
"I couldn't have asked for a better teammate," says Wilde.
"He's a first-time Olympian, he's obviously got his own ambitions and I don't want anyone to sacrifice their race for me. What he did out there was selfless. It was fantastic. That guy deserves the keys to New Zealand."
