From the hunter to the hunted. But don’t think the defence of his T100 Triathlon World Tour title, which opens in steamy Singapore on Saturday, is where the pressure lives for Hayden Wilde in 2026.
“The short course, for me, has more personal pressure than the T100,” the Kiwi said in a revealing interview overnight that mixed T100 and his ambition to add LA28 Olympic gold to his Tokyo bronze and Paris silver.
“I really, really wanna get back and do well in the short course [this year]. In the T100, of course, I want the title defence, but I feel a little bit more relaxed… you know the process, you know how the racing works.”
That’s music to the ears of Olympic Games lovers but it’s not that Wilde has taken is eyes off the T100 prize. Proof of that came in the very next breath of his interview, a comment that will give his 100km rivals further pause for thought.
“You look at your [training] numbers and you’re like, ‘I’ve actually improved from last year already.’ That’s all you can do at the end of the day, be as good as you can be, and if you get beaten by the next guy, it is what it is.”
The next guy, this weekend, looks like Matthew Hauser. The reigning WTCS champion, Wilde’s most persistent short-course rival save for Alex Yee, has accepted a wildcard after being called out by the Kiwi for the best part of two years.
The Aussie’s acceptance was characteristically blunt: “They offered me a wildcard; I stupidly said yes.”
Venturing into only his second-ever middle-distance race — his sole previous attempt ended with a bike mechanical DNF at Ironman 70.3 Geelong — Hauser has framed this as a one-off curiosity: “One race, one race only. Dip the toes in, keep the pencil sharp, and then onwards to the World Series.”
Wilde won’t fall for that bluff. Not given this collision is quietly loaded.
Wilde is a T100 champion working to reclaim his Olympic-distance edge. Hauser is an Olympic-distance specialist testing himself at a format Wilde owns. Both men are operating outside their comfort zone, just in opposite directions.
Wilde is measured about what Hauser might produce.
“He’s got the credentials to be extremely competitive and extremely good. Being a debutant in middle distance, it’s probably exciting for him. Probably a little bit nerve-wracking. I’ve been in the position before. I hope he brings some of that short-course flair and gives it to us at the start of the race. I hope we can have a really good ding-dong battle up the front. The closer the better.”
Their last TT bike start line was 40th anniversary edition of the Noosa Triathlon in 2023. Who won? “I did,” Wilde said. In a course record time too.
Beyond the Hauser subplot, Wilde is carrying the weight of a compressed T100 calendar with no margin for error. He’ll plans to race three of the four male rounds in 2026 plus the grand final in Doha, balancing a season with more Olympic qualification-aligned WTCS racing.
“I can’t really mess up a [T100] race this time,” Wilde said.
That wasn’t an issue last season with Wilde winning six of seven starts either side of his career-threatening Toyko training crash. The one blip in Dubai – where he finished 8th when a lap counting blunder on the bike cost him the lead and a perfect season as the result – wasn’t his fault.
Still, the zero wriggle room sentiment stands. Â Â
“If you have a bad race, you’re already on the back foot.”
Singapore’s brutal heat and humidity make it the least forgiving place to open too.
“You can have an absolute blinder here, or if you’ve gone to the red zone too many times, you can just detonate yourself. The smarter athlete is gonna be whoever can get the fuel and the water [in] and is doing their own thing.”
Kyle Smith provides the weekend’s other compelling subplot from a Kiwi standpoint. Second overall in 2024, the Taupo triathlete then lost 2025 to illness and a shoulder injury requiring surgery. Singapore is where the reset begins.
Mika Noodt and Youri Keulen — the latter the 2024 champion in Singapore and fresh from a Thailand heat camp — are the established circuit threats, with Jake Birtwhistle 4th at 70.3 Geelong, not too far behind Wilde.
The Kiwi talisman’s own preparation has been pointed. The shoulder that compromised his swim after last year’s crash has been rebuilt through an off-season heavy on pool work. The progress, confirmed, he says, by front-group swims in short-course racing in New Zealand over summer, has been positive though it’s one thing swimming in a T100 field of 20 compared to the washing machine of a 55-starter WTCS.
Even more bike power has been the other focus so he can arrive at the run with more left in the tank. That will fill his rivals with further dread because it wasn’t like Wilde lacked watts on demand in 2025, even after the crash.
“Feeling really, really good and really confident in how my training went heading into Singapore,” Wilde said.
The T100 title defence is the job. Getting back to LA 2028 is the mission. On Saturday, both begin.
Check out the T100’s full interview with Wilde overnight below.
The Whakatane 28-year-old discusses his motivation for the sport and competitive drive; his approach to processing wins versus losses; the standout T100 performances from last season (London and Oropesa); a season review including the shoulder injury and its impact; his strategic approach to the shorter 2025 T100 calendar; balancing T100 and short-course commitments ahead of the LA Olympics; off-season training focus (particularly swim rehabilitation and bike power); racing the Singapore heat and humidity; and his assessment of contenders, with particular focus on Hauser’s debut.
The full start list of professional men competing in the Singapore T100 is:
- Hayden Wilde (NZL)Â
- Mika Noodt (GER)
- Mathis Margirier (FRA)
- Jonas Schomburg (GER)
- Youri Keulen (NED)Â
- Sam Dickinson (GBR)Â
- Gregory Garnaby (ITA)Â
- Menno Koolhaas (NED)Â
- Wilhelm Hirsch (GER)Â
- Kyle Smith (NZL)Â
- Jake Birtwhistle (AUS)Â
- Guillem Montiel (ESP)Â
- Gregor Payet (LUX)Â
- Henry Rappo (EST)Â
- Pieter Heemeryck (BEL)Â
- Henrik Goesch (FIN)Â
- Dylan Magnien (FRA)Â
- Jannik Schaufler (GER)Â
- Matt Hauser (AUS)Â
- Henri Schoeman (RSA)
