Hayden became the first New Zealander to win a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a hard fought Bronze medal and first to win his Silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The team of Nicole, Tayler Reid, Hayden Wilde, and Ainsley Thorpe then went on to get 12th in the Mixed Team Relay in the first time it had been held at the Olympics. He then went on to finish 6th in the Men’s Elite has at the World Triathlon Championship series in Montreal only weeks after the Olympics. Hayden finished a fantastic 5th overall in the World for the 2020-21 ITU season, with a 14th at the World Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton, Canada on 22 August 2021. Hayden finished the 2021-2022 season by becoming the Xterra World Champion and a second place in the Triathlon Super League. 2022 – He has started the year off with a win at the Singapore Arena Games in May and went onto claimed a silver medal at the Yokohama World Triathlon. Hayden won his first Gold media in a World Triathlon Series event in Leeds at the beginning of June and has followed it up with a Silver in Montreal (25 June) cementing his position on the world stage in the lead up to the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Hayden comes from a long distance off road background and has raced and won the iconic 2 day Coast to Coast, 2x Xterra U19 World Champion and has also been the ITU Cross Tri U23 World Champion. Hayden is originally from Whakatane but currently trains in Tauranga with Craig Kirkwood. He made the change to ITU Triathlon to chase his dreams to compete at the Olympic Games. In his 3 short years of racing ITU he has dropped his world ranking into the top 15, finished 11th in the WTS series. Hayden also races on the Super League circuit which is a new format of triathlon currently sitting in 2nd overall for the 2019-2020 season behind world champion Vincent Luis. Goals: To make the Tokyo team and win an Olympic Gold in the individual and MTR with the NZ Team. He also wants to qualify for the 5000m on track for the Games. Best Achievements: 3rd Tokyo Test Event/ Gold MTR U23 Worlds and Edmonton WTS. 4 x World Champion in Off-Road Triathlon. Reason for getting into Tri: A passion for swimming, biking and running and to one day be an Olympic athlete. Most Influential on your Career: Braden Currie, the Multi Sport and Long Distance Triathlon Legend. Hobbies: Outdoor adventures anywhere in the nature! Advice for Young athletes: Enjoy your team sports and don’t take it to seriously too young. I started at 19 so you have loads of time to become a full time athlete!