🇳🇿 A generational talent doing generational things. His best mate firmly back where he belongs and desperate to give his pal even more of a fight in the future. And a double Olympian who looks to have found her new swim, bike and run niche.
Hayden Wilde, Kyle Smith and Nicole van der Kaay made it a red-letter day for New Zealand triathlon on Saturday when they collected gold and a pair of silver medals respectively at T100 Dubai.
For starters, the irrepressible Mr Wilde. The Andorra-based 29-year-old’s third T100 victory of the year at Al Mamzar Beach Park, less than a day after claiming WTCS Abu Dhabi sprint-distance bronze on Hudayriyat Island, further embossed his global legend.
Wilde won by 69 seconds from Smith, collected another US$50,000 winner’s cheque and will now go into the December 12 T100 Triathlon World Tour Grand Final in Qatar with the perfect best-of-three points haul of 105 points.
Only something extraordinary and as yet unforeseen can stop Wilde from adding successive T100 titles to his Ironman 70.3 World Championship success in September, it seems. Not even a broken toe could hold him back in Dubai.
“It’s a lot easier to first do the sprint and then the T100 than doing it the other way around,” Wilde said of another successful two-race weekend.
“I still felt my quads at the end of the ride, but I paced myself through the run and felt pretty strong.”
No kidding. Just ask Smith, who led for a while but knew what was coming, like everyone else temporarily in contention.
“Hayden is just so good. At the 10km mark of the run, I was feeling great, but I knew he was just waiting and waiting,” said Smith.
“It’s great to be training together and to see us finish first and second today.”
On his chance to get closer to the top position in Qatar, Smith revealed the best mates’ plans for the next month. And a reality check.
“We’re both going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp and some heat prep. You definitely need that. I’m feeling confident and good,’” Smith said before addressing the elephant in the room.
“What works for me works for Hayden, so we’re both going on a training camp, and he is getting better as well.”
Wilde was chuffed for Smith, who seems to have left a long period of injury, illness and personal turmoil in the rear-view mirror for certain now. In the past two months, he challenged Wilde before finishing third at T100 French Riviera, then won Challenge Barcelona and now has a silver medal in Dubai and second place on the T100 season standings heading into next month’s finale in Qatar.
“He worked really well on the first two laps of the run, and then I made my move, but he was very strong today,” Wilde said of Smith.
“It was really cool to see him doing so well. We are spending three weeks in Abu Dhabi now for some hard training, enjoying some sunshine, and getting some indoor snow before racing the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final.”
Three weeks or four, it’s all semantics. What is true is the fact Wilde and Smith will be the men to beat in Qatar.
NVDK Believes
Nicole van der Kaay’s second place eclipsed her season-opening fourth at T100 Gold Coast and is arguably the best result of her middle-distance career. While eventual winner Georgia Taylor-Brown couldn’t wait for the tape and the race in the heat to be over, NVDK sprinted to the line strong and could have gone further, admitting she wished it were a half marathon, not an 18km run.
She then paid credit to her support team, chief among them partner Tayler Reid, who had finished 13th in WTCS Abu Dhabi the previous night and watched on his laptop before representing Team NZL in the Abu Dhabi mixed relay.
“I’m lucky I have a great support crew. Like, my partner is always telling me, um, how good I can be so to get a performance like this, I’m so emotional,” van der Kaay said.
“I know [this result] it’s been in me and I’ve had so many injuries and setbacks, so I’m really happy to get a result like this.”
On her race, van der Kaay reiterated that “I actually loved it.”
“The whole day I was kind of just trying to stay conservative. Just following the process and not getting ahead of myself.
“I started off a bit easier on the run and I just wanted to stick to myself. I felt better and better throughout and, you know, it’s a pity it wasn’t going to be a halve [marathon] because I was really, really feeling good, but it was a great day for New Zealand.”
A great day for New Zealand triathlon indeed.
Van der Kaay has moved up to third in the women’s season standings behind Taylor-Brown and Julie Derron heading to the T100 finale in Qatar, the women’s decider set a day before the men’s on December 11.
Before then, van der Kaay will return to New Zealand for next Sunday’s World Triathlon Cup Tauranga. She’ll do so US$40,000 richer and with her confidence sky-high.
Wilde’s fiancée Hanne de Vet, meanwhile, was 11th in the women’s race and is currently 16th in the season points standings.
T100 Triathlon World Tour Dubai – Top 10 Results
MEN
Position | Athlete | Time | T100 Race To Qatar Points | Prize Money
1 | Hayden Wilde (NZL) | 3:11:43 | 35 | $50,000
2 | Kyle Smith (NZL) | 3:12:52 | 29 | $40,000
3 | Mika Noodt (GER) | 3:14:01 | 26 | $30,000
4 | Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) | 3:15:12 | 23 | $25,000
5 | Menno Koolhaas (NED) | 3:15:40 | 20 | $21,000
6 | Henry Räppo (EST) | 3:16:07 | 18 | $18,000
7 | Gregor Payet (LUX) | 3:17:01 | 16 | $15,000
8 | Kurt McDonald (AUS) | 3:17:15 | 14 | $13,000
9 | Rico Bogen (GER) | 3:17:50 | 12 | $10,000
10 | Antonio Benito López (ESP) | 3:22:06 | 11 | $7,500
WOMEN
Position | Athlete | Time | T100 Race To Qatar Points | Prize Money
1 | Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) | 3:35:19 | 35 | $50,000
2 | Nicole van der Kaay (NZL) | 3:35:29 | 29 | $40,000
3 | Julie Derron (SUI) | 3:37:25 | 26 | $30,000
4 | Caroline Pohle (GER) | 3:38:13 | 23 | $25,000
5 | Sara Pérez Sala (ESP) | 3:38:50 | 20 | $21,000
6 | Audrey Merle (FRA) | 3:41:36 | 18 | $18,000
7 | Bianca Bogen (GER) | 3:41:54 | 16 | $15,000
8 | Daniela Kleiser (GER) | 3:43:02 | 14 | $13,000
9 | Kate Waugh (GBR) | 3:44:33 | 12 | $10,000
10 | Lizzie Rayner (GBR) | 3:44:54 | 11 | $7,500
📷 T100 Triathlon World Tour
