It’s not often Hayden Wilde’s run is the focus but that’s exactly where the spotlight falls as he resets for April’s T100 Triathlon World Tour opener in Singapore after being run down at Ironman 70.3 Geelong on Sunday.
The Kiwi talisman was overhauled late by Kristian Blummenfelt and Jelle Geens in a sobering Ironman Pro Series reality check, a rare script flip for one of the sport’s most feared runners.
Having taken control of the half across the swim and bike, and arriving into T2 with a hard-earned lead and the bike course record, the Andorra-based Whakatane 28-year-old looked perfectly positioned to shut the door.
Instead, he found himself under siege in the one discipline he typically excels in.
Blummenfelt erased a 90-second deficit with to catch Wilde around halfway on the run, with Geens following soon after. Wilde (1:09:43) was surprisingly unable to respond as the race slipped from his grasp in the final kilometres as Blummenfelt clocked a 1:06:38 half marathon, more than three minutes faster than the Kiwi, with Geens’ run time 1:08:29.
“Executed the swim and ride as planned and really happy with the numbers,” Wilde said before adding the kicker in a social media post. “The run… I felt like I was stuck in second gear.”
That “second gear”, typically enough to break fields, wasn’t nearly enough in Geelong.
“When you’re racing Jelle and Kristian you have no room to be stuck in second gear or you’ll get chewed up and spat out the back.
“I put this down to myself as a potential lack of work in my half-distance tempo speed due to having the body primed and ready for Abu Dhabi sprint distance shape and potential swollen foot from the sea urchin the day before.”
Singapore in focus
The bigger picture is what matters now.
Wilde’s Geelong performance came off the back of short-course preparation turned turtle by the Middle East war — “Abu Dhabi sprint distance shape” as he put it — and disrupted further after a sea urchin sting the day before the race.
With the T100 Triathlon World Tour shifting to a condensed four-race series in 2026, the men’s opener in Singapore on April 25 looms as a critical early marker.
“Now we go into full prep for Singapore, work those zones and do better,” Wilde said.
For a racer who prides himself on run dominance, the takeaway is clear: the engine is there… it just needs recalibrating for the demands of 100km racing.
How Geelong played out
Geelong delivered on its billing as one of the strongest early-season fields on the calendar, doubling as the second stop of the IM Pro Series with maximum points, prize money and world championship qualification on offer.
Wilde was central to everything.
After exiting the water just off the leaders, he surged to the front early on the bike and drove the pace, before launching a decisive move mid-race that fractured the field.
By T2, Wilde had turned pressure into position, arriving first and smashing the bike course record (1:56:03) while opening a meaningful gap.
But the race flipped on the run.
Blummenfelt produced a trademark surge, erasing a 90-second deficit before catching Wilde around the 10km mark and powering away to a course-record win. Geens followed suit later in the run, leaving Wilde to round out the podium despite a still high-quality 1:09:44 half marathon.
All three athletes dipped under the previous course best in a statement race to open their middle-distance campaigns.
“The run leg, where I always feel most confident and pride in my performance just wasn’t there today. Felt like I was stuck in second gear. (Positive) There was no drop in pace just consistent around 3:10-15,” Wilde said.
He said it — Kristian Blummenfelt
Blummenfelt’s Geelong win carried extra bite, the Norwegian rebounding from a bike mechanical and stomach issues on the run en route to 6th at Ironman New Zealand in Taupō just two weeks earlier
In Geelong, the real Big Blu showed up, no small thanks to Wilde pushing from the get go.
“I’m pretty stoked, it was a fun battle to get out on top of. It always brings more to the race when both Hayden and Jelle are turning up, two athletes I respect a lot, and it tastes even better when I’m able to grab the tape,” Blummenfelt said.
“I’m very happy with how I felt on the run, it felt like I was flying there, quite the contrast to how it was two weeks ago in Taupō. It brings a good momentum going into the next one in Oceanside in six days.”
“It was on from the gun I would say, I think it was mainly Hayden who was putting the pressure on the bike, and they even got a gap there on the second lap and I was just hoping that I could have a solid run, but I didn’t expect to be feeling that good on the run.”
Top Five Results — Ironman 70.3 Geelong
Men
- Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) – 3:30:25
- Jelle Geens (BEL) — 3:31:24
- Hayden Wilde (NZL) — 3:31:52
- Jake Birtwhistle (AUS) — 3:34:29
- Kurt McDonald (AUS) — 3:38:19
Women
- Kat Matthews (GBR) — 4:06:15
- Grace Thek (AUS) — 4:06:50
- Tamara Jewett (CAN) — 4:15:26
- Penny Slater (AUS) — 4:16:35
- Skye Wallace (AUS) — 4:17:57
