Can Hayden Wilde consign to history the heartache of Taupo two years ago? Will the French Alps help him do so? Or will the likes of Jelle Geens and Kristian Blummenfelt prove glory in the 70.3 distance and above is for long distance specialists only, not those also still motivated by Olympic gold?
Answers to all that and more will be found on Sunday when Nice hosts the 20th edition of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
Wilde arrives as the PTO World No.1 and reigning T100 champion, but a 70.3 world title has eluded him, making this his self-confessed “A-race this year”.
He was runner-up in Taupo in December 2024. In a script painfully familiar from the Paris Olympic Games, the title was seemingly his, until it wasn’t, outkicked late by Geens after going to the well early on the run to press home his advantage off the bike.
Geens backed that up with victory in Marbella last November, beating Blummenfelt in a sprint finish, and now arrives in Nice chasing something no man has ever done — a third 70.3 world title, a feat only Taylor Knibb and Daniela Ryf have managed on the women’s side.
That shot at history doesn’t concern Wilde, though.
“This is my A-race this year” the Andorra-based 29-year-old told Ironman.com.
“Going back to Taupo was really nice. Racing in front of the home crowd, plus being born in Taupo, it was super special as well. And yeah, I guess there was a bit of weight there coming after the Olympics [silver medal behind Brit Alex Yee after leading till the final km] as well. Mentally pretty fatigued. So coming into this one, this has been my A-race of the year, so yeah, feeling like the body has turned around really nicely for this one.”
Wilde’s route to Nice came with an unforseen schedule detour, and then the illness setback.
He qualified for Nice at 70.3 Geelong on March 22, only entering after WTCS Abu Dhabi was postponed following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict. He finished third in Geelong, and the run splits told their own story: Blummenfelt ran 1:06:39 to erase almost a minute on race leader Wilde, comfortably faster than both Geens (1:08:30) and Wilde himself (1:09:04) — a marker of what Big Blu can do off the bike when he’s on.
Geens, Blummenfelt and reigning full-distance Ironman world champion Casper Stornes head the men’s seedings for Sunday. The field behind the top three is also loaded: Germany’s Jonas Schomburg and Rico Bogen, Norway’s Gustav Iden, South Africa’s Jamie Riddle, France’s Vincent Luis and Belgium’s Marten Van Riel all carry genuine podium credentials.
The course sets up as one of the toughest in 70.3 Worlds history but just might suit the Kiwi. A 1931m swim in the Mediterranean Sea leads into a brutal 90km bike leg with 1244m of climbing through the Alpes-Maritimes, headlined by the ascent of Col de Vence — terrain that should play into the power of the Whakatane-bred Kiwi ace, a warrior forged in the fires of competition.
From there, a two-loop, 21.1km run with just 107m of elevation along the Promenade des Anglais will decide the title.
There’s a deeper piece of history sitting over Nice, too. No Kiwi man has stood on top of the 70.3 Worlds podium since Terenzo Bozzone won the title in Clearwater, Florida in 2008, clocking 3 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds. It’s the name Wilde reaches for when asked what winning here would mean.
“It’s been a while since a Kiwi won this one, since Terenzo Bozzone many years ago. So hopefully we can kind of bring it home and yeah, get a world title back in New Zealand,” Wilde said.
“Obviously want to kind of get that top step.
“I’ve been here for a few days now, and I’ve been over the course a couple times, so I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s a hard bike, relatively fast run, so it’s going to be explosions everywhere, I think. So hope I’m not one of those guys.”
This is only the second leg of a crazy busy September for Wilde. Last weekend he pushed Matthew Hauser close at the Supertri Pro Series Final in Jersey, finishing runner-up for a NZ$172k payday. From Nice he heads into a T100 stop on the French Riviera and then the WTCS Grand Final in Pontevedra to close out the month — but Nice shapes as the one that matters most.
Wilde already holds a healthy lead in the T100 standings and has no path to the WTCS title this year, though he does need world and Olympic ranking points out of Pontevedra after a season disrupted by illness. The 70.3 crown remains the obvious mid-distance gap on his CV, and the one he’ll be most motivated to fill.
His 2026 form line has been tops-turvy: 3rd at 70.3 Geelong (March 22), a statement win at the Singapore T100 (April 25), 3rd at the T100 San Francisco (June 6), then a rough 27th at WTCS Hamburg (July 11), where a penalty compounded a race in which the Andorra-based Kiwi was clearly still feeling the effects of a lung infection.
In his own words
Wilde has reconned the Nice course, and he knows exactly the kind of afternoon it’s set up to be.
The lung issue that has severely disrupted his season also looks to be a thing of the past, a human machine engineered for sporting excellence reportedly back to peak fitness.
“It’s been a little bit up and down, to be fair,” Wilde said of his year.
“Start of the season obviously went really well, had a good result in Geelong and finished off in Singapore with a good win. And yeah, from there got a bit of sickness and kind of been battling a little bit, but the shape in the last 6 to 8 weeks has been super good. And yeah, feeling really confident within the body, and hopefully that’s going to be enough to kind of be at the pointy end of Sunday’s race.”
The strength of Sunday’s field, rather than a burden, is something Wilde says he’s embracing.
“I love having a super stacked start as well,” he said. “Like, there’s going to be no question marks around your win or your placing or whatnot. So to have everyone here, you know, you’re racing the best in the world and the best of the best, and no names are missing. So that makes it, I guess, a little bit more special heading into this race. So now looking forward to just getting amongst the world’s best and giving, yeah, shooting my shot, I guess.”
For all the ambition, Wilde is measured about what will count as success.
“Obviously you know my A-race, and I personally have high standards as well [but] I guess there’s two ways to look at it. I want to go out there and take the win, but also, you know, if I’m just not good enough on the day and had the best day I could possibly have, I’ll also be pretty satisfied with that if it’s not the win.
“As long as I can have like the perfect race, you know, that’ll be kind of my aim. And my perfect race is, yeah, hopefully fast and up the front.”
Live streaming
The men’s race takes the gun at 7am CEST Sunday — 5pm back home in New Zealand — with live coverage on Ironman’s YouTube channel and Ironman.com/proseries starting 30 minutes earlier.
It’s a repeat of the women’s timings on Saturday where Wilde’s fiancée, Belgium’s Hannah De Vet, lines up. With Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay opting out, the women’s field is headed by top seeds Taylor Knibb (USA), Marjolaine Pierré (France) and Solveig Løvseth (Norway), with Germany’s Laura Philips and Britain’s Kat Matthews among the other genuine threats.
Berry chasing Sunshine Coast build-up for Kona
Kiwi Hannah Berry qualified for Nice but the Mt Maunganui 35-year-old won’t be on the Promenade des Anglais. Instead, she’ll wear the No.1 bib almost 16,400km away at Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast in Mooloolaba on Sunday, using it as build-up for the full Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 10.
It’s a course with history for Berry — her first-ever 70.3 back in 2017, a maiden 70.3 win in 2019, and a second-place finish there in 2022, her last appearance there since.
Berry heads a strong contingent of Kiwis named across the pro fields in Mooloolaba with Rebecca Clarke ranked 2nd, Danielle Donaldson 8th and Angharad Llewellyn 12th.
The men’s field is topped by Trent Thorpe but watch too for Ben Hamilton (M3) and fellow Kiwis Lachlan Haycock (M5), Scott Harpham (M11), Xander Marsh (M12), Brett Clifford (M12), Guy Crawford (M19).
