Photos: supertri
By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
When Hayden Wilde races supertri, you either get wonderful or whacky.
On Sunday, a loose shoe added to a growing litany of the latter in the rapid-fire league, costing the Kiwi No.1 a chance to sprint for a third successive win of the season.
Wilde (Crown Racing) eventually finished third, sans his left sneaker, behind Stars & Stripes Racing team-mates Vasco Vilaça and Tim Hellwig. The upside is it didn’t cost the Andorra-based, Whakatane 27-year-old his lead atop the supertri season standings heading into the November 3 final in Neom.
You can be sure though that Wilde’s bid to add a second supertri title to his 2022 win won’t be without drama in the Saudi desert. It’s just the way Wilde rolls in supertri.
If he’s not winning races with aplomb, he’s miscounting laps, being confused by the lap bell and riding through transition, or being denied a short chute that quite probably cost him the title in 2023, or being dissed at the tape by Alex Yee.
In Toulouse, he battled with Vilaça, Hellwig, Léo Bergere, Kenji Nener and Vincent Luis for much of nine discipline race and looked good for a third win in four starts. Then, on cue, drama.
“I actually thought I had it in the bag but my shoe fell off halfway,” Wilde said.
“A couple of bands on my shoe snapped, and I was running on the second round, and I was coming around corners and the whole shoe was literally going to fling off. So I had to, like, completely change my stride to keep my foot in the shoe.
“It was super difficult. I just couldn’t run to my potential at the end of the run, and that’s racing.
“A technical mistake from that point of view, but got enough points and, yeah, enough to block a few other athletes for the overall series.”
With silver in Boston, wins in Chicago and London, and now 3rd in Toulouse, Wilde will enter Neom with a five point lead over Bergere. He’s also help ensure Crown Racing will go into the decider with pole position in the lucrative teams category.
“It was really important that I showed up here to score some points for my team and to keep my rivals [for the overall title] at bay, so I’m pretty happy with today.”
For 24-year-old Vilaça it was a maiden supertri victory.
“I’m just so happy. Finishing next to Tim, who did an amazing run of that last leg, so we could finish side-by-side to bring the points home for Stars & Stripes, means I’m over the moon with this result.
“I really struggled on the first swim because of the cold. But, from then on, I just gave it everything I had to get to the front. I’m happy to show what I’ve been working for today.”
in the women’s race, Georgia Taylor-Brown scored her third consecutive supertri 2024 victory in Toulouse. Already top of the leaderboard, the Brit made the decisive move on the final run leg to take full command of the 2024 series with just one race to go.
Crown Racing team-mate and home favourite Cassandre Beaugrand would initially run her way into 4th but was later disqualified due to not having her helmet fastened on the bike leg.
“When you’re at the top and winning, you definitely want more,” said Taylor-Brown.
“That’s three wins going into the final in NEOM and I feel quite happy and safe. I told myself I’d go for a non-wetsuit [first swim] ahead of the race and I stuck to that. I knew it was going to be cold and that I’d lose time, but I’m happy with that decision.”
