New Zealand
Hayden Wilde hails from a mountain biking background, and was two time XTERRA U19 and World Triathlon U23 Cross Triathlon World Champion before making the change to full triathlon to chase his dream of competing at an Olympic Games. That he did at Tokyo 2020 and in fine style, with an outstanding bronze medal performance, before finishing the season with fifth place overall.
That superb campaign was then built on in 2022, where Wilde traded podium places with Alex Yee all season, including wins at WTCS Leeds and WTCS Hamburg to set up a grandstand finish to the year at the Abu Dhabi Championship Finals. Knowing victory would see him crowned World Champion, Wilde crossed the line in sixth, ensuring a career-best overall Series bronze.
In 2023, Wilde again went into the Finals as one of the favourites for the world title, only to be denied by Dorian Coninx’s sprint-finish win. Then, at Paris 2024, it was a bold run pace that saw him take to the front and lead for much of the 10km run before ultimately winning the silver in one of the most dramatic Olympic finales of all time.
