Hayden Wilde wins Ironman world title
Bay of Plenty's Hayden Wilde has surged to the Ironman 70.3 world title in the south of France.
The New Zealand multi-distance legend was run down late at the same event two years ago in Taupō, but in Nice he timed his run perfectly to finish 18 seconds ahead of hard-charging Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt.
LATEST HEADLINES:
Wilde was at or near the front through most of the bike leg before entering the run just 11 seconds behind German leader Lasse Nygaard Priester.
Wilde and Priester traded the lead through the opening stages of the run, before the New Zealander eased clear and maintained his composure over the half-marathon distance to clock an overall time of three hours 50 minutes 51 seconds.
The defending champion and the man who overran Wilde and relegated him to second at Taupō in December 2024 - Belgian Jelle Geens - was third.
"It's awesome to execute a race," said Wilde.
"I was coming down the Promenade and hit about 15km and the legs felt really good, and I was like yeah, we've ticked that box since Taupō, now I just keep chugging along and I got to that 19km mark and really had to dig deep.
"There was still a 32-second gap, so I was doing calculations in my head. So I just said keep chugging, keep chugging, get over this little pinch and run downhill. It's still sinking in, to be honest, but it's just nice to get it done.
"The last 2km was punishing, but, you know, a great quote from Kristian is, 'it's worse to lose' and yeah, it definitely is, so to hold on is something special for sure."
Since winning triathlon silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Wilde has chosen to challenge himself over longer distances, competing regularly in the world T100 series.
