Wilde continues dominance of T100 Triathlons
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hayden Wilde put in a dominant performance in men’s T100 history with a 6 minutes 21 seconds winning margin in the 2026 season opener in Singapore, the lagest win in the format’s history.
The reigning world champion crossed the line in steamy Singapore in 3:21:58, with ample time to recalibrate before Britain’s Sam Dickinson and Germany’s Mika Noodt filled the podium.
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The much-anticipated showdown with WTCS world champion Matt Hauser never materialised. .
Into the early championship lead and a US$50,000 (NZ$85k) payday.
“Gotta pay for weddings somehow!” Wilde said, referring to his recent engagement to Belgian triathlete Hanne De Vet before getting back to matters racing.
“Really, really happy,” the Andorra-based, Whakatane 28-year-old said. “I just tried to keep my numbers and made sure I was just doing my own race.”
It was a masterclass in controlled aggression. Sixth out of the water in 26:09 — just nine seconds off the leader and a significant improvement on Singapore 2025, when he was a minute back — Wilde had barely mounted his bike before the race was being reshaped in his image.
A trademark first-lap surge carried him past Hauser, Jonas Schomburg, Henri Schoeman and then Sam Dickinson to crest Benjamin Sheares Bridge in the lead. He never looked back.
The swim exit was no footnote. In his pre-race interview, Wilde had identified the pool as his primary off-season obsession after last year’s shoulder injury.
“I think the biggest thing for me out of here is the confidence out of the water,” he said afterwards.
“Last year I was a minute back. We had more or less the same sort of swimmers up front and that felt really comfortable, felt good.”
So comfortable, in fact, that he had time to make a small but telling decision heading into T2.
“I had the opportunity, if I was far behind, I was not going to put socks on,” Wilde said. “But I was like, ‘I’m gonna put socks on.’ That gives me extra time to just get in and get out of T2.”
The socks went on. The race seemingly already won.
On the bike, Wilde averaged 42.43kph and was the fastest rider on course, building a lead of over a minute before settling into a rhythm that spoke of authority rather than panic.
A power meter failure halfway through the ride — it disconnected from his Garmin, leaving him riding on heart rate alone — barely registered.
“It was really hard to figure out what I was doing, and then it finally connected and I was able to continue and just put my head down,” Wilde said of his 1:51:32 split for the 80km bike leg.
The run was more of the same, Wilde moving through Gardens by the Bay in three-and-a-half minute kilometres while the field fractured behind him in the sweltering heat.”
Dickinson ran strongly to hold second after slipping his chain on the bike; Noodt delivered what he described as his most disciplined T100 performance to date to claim third. Mathis Margirier looked threatening before cramping out of contention.
Wilde’s Kiwi compatriot Kyle Smith, who finished second overall in the 2024 T100 standings before illness and a shoulder injury derailed 2025, crossed in 13th. The big reset has begun.
