Hayden Wilde’s pre-race promise to “either smash” his T100 Triathlon World Tour debut or “blow my gasket off” deserves a retrospective, Kiwiana upgrade following his Singapore statement.
Wilde didn’t just win the $7 million circuit’s 2025 season opener on Sunday … he ‘Smashed ‘em Bro’.
You probably don’t need to be a follower of the oval ball codes to appreciate the cultural reference, and especially not if you were following along on social this week when Wilde presented jerseys to the All Blacks men’s team in town for the Singapore Sevens. But just in case, we’ll crunch some old fashioned swim, bike and run data to elaborate his own big hit.
History will record Wilde’s time for the sweltering 100km of Singapore at 3:18:11, his margin of victory over French runner-up Léo Bergère at a healthy 2min 35sec with the reigning, superhuman T100 titleholder Marten Van Riel third a further 47sec adrift.
The record books will also note a $25,000 (NZ$44,680) bump to his bank account, and the 35 points the Andorra-based, Whakatane 27-year-old has taken to the top of the T100 standings.
But the raw numbers don’t speak to the mastery of a victory that would have been wider had Wilde not earned the breathing space to high five half of Singapore in the closing stages of the 18km run.
More on that mutual love-in later, with more than a little help from Jan Frodeno. In the immediate aftermath though, it was the calculated nature of Wilde’s victory that sent ripples through the T100 paddock.
Wilde’s trademark full throttle brand is fun to watch. But will history also record this as a coming of age race where he tempered that urge? Pushing just hard enough to take control of the race without risking the blown gasket moments in Paris and Taupo that ultimately cost him Olympic Games and Ironman 70.3 worlds golds?
“You know, I was pretty smart out there today,” Wilde said after acknowledging that it had indeed been a pretty good day, Kiwi styles. “Yeah, nah, it was a heck of a day.
“I ran off [went out] pretty hard on the swim, and for me, it was just too hard. So I dropped back into that second group and paced myself and then actually started getting more positions throughout the swim…
“It’s that sort of race that’s really hard to predict, like, if you go into that red zone more than once, it’ll bite you hard, and we probably saw that with a few of the top guys out there. And that’s what I felt like in the swim, it was real hot out there.
“On the ride, it was so hard to cool down but I just used the downhills to recover. And then my plan was just to keep my heart rate down on the run. I think my heart rate was lower on the run than it was on the ride.”
Expert analyst Frodeno jumped into the post-race interview at this point to enquire whether Wilde had specifically worked on his race strategy during the off-season in the wake of Paris and Taupo.
“… you know, I love you, I love you, but pacing has not been your strength over the last 12 months. Something you’ve obviously matured?”
Wilde explained that yes, he had worked on pacing before his Kiwi pal Kyle Smith, helping out behind the microphone after being a late scratching from the race, chipped in.
“The last thing I said to you before you went to the start line was, please be smart on this one,” said Smith who finished 5th in Singapore last year despite suffering on the run.
“And it looked like you were actually smart. But the thing that you said back was, I’ll be smart for this one. I think you need to probably implement that for the rest of the season.”
Time will tell if this new, calculated version of Wilde shows up more frequently. One thing is for certain though – the T100 season is long and one win does not a world champion make.
Wilde was quick to acknowledge Van Riel’s gritty performance just a week after qualifying for September’s Ironman worlds in Nice via IM South Africa. The Belgian is sure to come back much stronger without 226km of racing in his legs and half a world of travel in a week, as will Jelle Geens who DNF’d with stomach cramps after the first lap of the run.
But there was much to admire in Wilde’s performance. His powerful new team of swim specialist Fred Vergnoux, cycling mentor Javier Sola (Tadej Pogačar’s coach) and run guru Gary Lough (husband of British marathon royal Paula Radcliffe) seems to be doing the trick.
Wilde exited Marina Bay a more than manageable 51 seconds adrift and quickly pedalled to the front of the race with Rico Bogen.
The German and Kiwi traded turns as pace-setters but the exertion clearly told on Bogen who eventually faded to 10th after leading Wilde out of T2.
Wilde, in contrast, looked in control all day and fresh as a daisy as he crossed the line. You know you’ve had a good race when Frodeno says he “looks up to you”.
The former Olympic, 3 x full and 2 x 70.3 world champion clearly enjoy Wilde flashing smiles to the camera on the bike and his extended celebration on the run. That started as early as the 12.5km mark when Wilde took a corner purposely wide to acknowledge a pair of young fans hanging off the steel barriers, waving their homemade NZ flag and ‘Go Hayden’ signs .
High fives for all and sundry followed for the best part of the final kilometre, the mutual appreciate game continuing all the way to the tape as the man nicknamed the Falcon snaked back and forth down the finishing straight for more sideways fives. Just as he was about to finally snatch the tape, there was even one final side-step to accept the hand shake of a familiar face in the bleachers.
Frodeno: ‘Honestly, I look up to you. How do you do it?‘
“Hayden, I just want to thank you actually for bringing joy to the sport,” Frodeno said.
“Honestly, you’ve always got a smile on your face, you bring a good energy. Like a lot of athletes get caught up in the length of it [training and racing], in being tired all the time, the seriousness of it. You just live, man. Honestly, I look up to you. How do you do it?”
“… I think Kyle can relate as well. Like, we’ve had part time jobs, we know what life is like outside of the sport and you know, we can’t take this for granted,” Wilde said.
“For me it’s a pleasure and it’s an honour to be at the top and you’ve just got to enjoy it. You only live once and you’re only young once and why not just give it everything?”
Wilde then gave his biggest hint yet that he may well race for both the T100 and WTCS titles after starting the short course season with victory at WTCS Abu Dhabi.
Next up will likely be WTCS Yokohama before he takes on the European leg of the T100 – races in the French Riviera, Valencia and London from late June to the second week of August. Thereafter he could well juggle the mid-October WTCS finals in Wollongong and the climax of the ‘Race to Qatar’ in Doha (dec 12-13), via Dubai in Nov. 15-16. He needs to race a minimum four T100s plus Doha to be eligible for the 100k title, and a minimum three WTCS events plus the Wollongong grand final.
“I’ve got this saying now, that 2025 is my get greedy year. People say I’m greedy with racing [his heavy schedule]. So, as I said, you’re young once and you’re at the top for not that long, so why not get greedy and race a lot?”
Wilde will find few arguing against that mouth-watering prospect, perhaps save for the worlds best short and long distance exponents.
T100 Singapore – Men’s Top 10
🥇Hayden Wilde (NZL) – 3:18:11
🥈Leo Bergere (FRA) – 3:20:45
🥉Marten Van Riel (BEL) – 3:21:33
4. Youri Keulen (NED)– 3:22:05
5. Gregory Barnaby (ITA) – 3:22:30
6. Mathis Margirier (FRA) – 3:22:58
7. Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP) – 3:24:34
8. Sam Long (USA) – 3:24:59
9. Mika Noodt (GER) – 3:25:18
10. Rico Bogen (GER) – 3:25:34
How the race unfolded
Swim
French ‘Hot Shot’ Vincent Luis led British ‘Wild Card’ Max Stapley out of Marina Bay, covering the 2km in 23:43 after bursting to the front soon after the hooter. Marten Van Riel showed no early signs of his Ironman South Africa exertion a week ago to be at 5sec, as part of a lead group of four including Menno Koolhaas (NED). Despite apparent sighting problems, or perhaps a tactical move by Luis to swim a wider than optimal angle to the far buoy, the Frenchman’s time eclipsed Aaron Royle’s 2024 swim mark of 24:34 by 51 seconds. Wilde was a no stress 15th in 24:33 – 51sec down on Luis. Just 53 seconds covered the top 16 athletes with the Kiwi in good company just behind Singapore titleholder Youri Keulen and Jelle Geens, the Belgian who edged him at December’s 70.3 worlds in Taupo. American Sam Long, who ran to second in 2024 after being 4min back after the swim, exited 5:37 down this time.
Bike
Wilde quickly made up his 51sec deficit, moving up from 15th to 6th within 4km. The Kiwi remonstrated with a moto TO early on as the field jockeyed for early position while trying not to fall foul of the 20m drafting zone. A Christmas tree of flashing red RaceRanger lights ensued before everyone settled into rhythm.
Rico Bogen stretched out to a 36sec lead at the 35km mark but Wilde patiently reeled the German in as the field split apart, the 12 riders within a minute of the lead becoming four at that point. Vincent Luis went in reverse most spectacularly, dropping 13 positions to 14th at 2:42 down. The Frenchman eventually made it to T2 in 17th place – a mammoth 12:42 adrift of Bogen who led off the bike. Wilde and Bogen took turns off the front for the last 45km and averaged just a tick under 46kmh. Bogen’s 1:49:40 was slower than Sam Long’s blistering 1:48:01 in 2024. Long rode 1:51:28 on Sunday to make up six spots but hit the T2 line 6:48 down. After the early TO flashpoint, Wilde settled into his work and even managed a smile for the camera just before taking the lead for the first time at the 48km mark. Later Wilde was comfortable enough to take the magnetic visor off his aero Red Bull helmet to “get some fresh air”, as he said to the moto-camera.
Run
Bogen was first out T2 but and accepted a mutual admiration fist-pump from Wilde for a bike leg well ridden. The German lost touch soon afterwards. Within the 1st k, Wilde edged ahead and it was quickly obvious the German wasn’t going to be able to stick with the Kiwi who was running with ease and critically, in control, at 3:09 (min/km) to 3:12 pace. The Kiwi completed the 18km in 1:01:46 – averaging 3:12 (min/km) – to easily eclipse Sam Long’s 1:04:11 effort from last year. The bike exertion clearly took its toll on Bogen who ran a 1:09:10 to finish 10th. Bergère, battling an Achilles tendon niggle, made up three places with his 1:02:09 split while Van Riel (1:02:38) held off fast-finishing defending Singapore champion Youri Keulen who roared home in 1:01:48.
