Hayden Wilde doesn’t quite know where he stands physically heading into T100 French Riviera.
But the PTO World No.1 does know one thing: he feels better than he did the last time he stood on a T100 start line.
That was San Francisco in June, where the Kiwi talisman battled through illness to finish an unlikely 3rd despite being clearly below his best.
Now, after months of disrupted training and race withdrawals caused by inflammation around his lungs, the Andorra-based, Whakatane 28-year-old has confirmed his T100 return for the Ekoï French Riviera T100 on September 19.
“The problem with my lungs has affected my training over the last few months, [so] it is a bit of an unknown where my form will be at,” the reigning T100 World champion told the PTO.
“Having a respiratory issue in endurance sports is never ideal, but I feel stronger than I was in San Francisco, where I ended up on the podium.”
That bronze medal performance in San Francisco looks increasingly valuable in retrospect.
Wilde arrived there only days after illness had forced him out of WTCS Alghero and, despite conceding he was nowhere near 100 percent, still produced a 3:21:13 to finish behind Rico Bogen and Lasse Nygaard Priester.
As a result, the Kiwi’s T100 title defence remains remarkably strong: victory in Singapore in April, 3rd in San Francisco in June, and enough points to retain his strong grip on the Race to Qatar standings with 61 points compared to Jake Birthwhistle’s 36.
His short-course season, by contrast, has been a battle against his health.
Wilde’s on-again, off-again WTCS return finally came in Germany in July, but the two-time Hamburg champion was off-colour and was also hit with a penalty for an altered race number en route to a lowly 27th. The following day he bounced back to anchor New Zealand to 8th in the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships at the same venue.
He subsequently withdrew from WTCS London after an MRI revealed inflammation around his lungs, bringing the latest chapter of a stop-start season into sharp focus.
Wilde’s response?
As SBR-Tri.com flagged earlier this month, the Kiwi’s September could be one of the most brutal stretches of racing of his career: Supertri’s Pro Series Final in Jersey on September 6, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice on September 13, T100 French Riviera on September 19 and the WTCS Grand Final in Pontevedra on September 27. Four major races in four consecutive weekends, spanning super-sprint racing, 70.3, 100km and Olympic-distance triathlon.
The French Riviera is therefore the third act of a remarkable month — and Wilde is aiming to make it count.
“I am excited to be back in Saint-Raphaël and Fréjus,” he said. “The stunning Estérel Côte d’Azur course holds so many special memories for me from last year. The goal is to go back-to-back; that would be incredible.”
For New Zealand, Kyle Smith is also set to return to the T100 fold, making his first start since finishing 13th at Singapore in April.
French Riviera T100 men’s start list
- Hayden Wilde (NZL)
- Jake Birtwhistle (AUS)
- Rico Bogen (GER)
- Lasse Nygaard Priester (GER)
- Samuel Dickinson (GBR)
- Kurt McDonald (AUS)
- Gregor Payet (LUX)
- Morgan Pearson (USA)
- Menno Koolhaas (NED)
- Jelle Geens (BEL)
- Mathis Margirier (FRA)
- Youri Keulen (NED)
- Gregory Barnaby (ITA)
- Henry Räppo (EST)
- Will Draper (GBR)
- Fabian Kraft (GER)
- Wilhelm Hirsch (GER)
- Guillem Montiel (ESP)
- Valdemar Solok (DEN)
- Kyle Smith (NZL)
