# Hayden Wilde

Hayden Wilde (born 1 September 1997) is a New Zealand professional triathlete. He was the silver medalist at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and the bronze medallist at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the silver medalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the winner of the 2021 XTERRA World Championships. He finished second in the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series, having taken the win at the SLT London race. Wilde won the 2022 Super League Triathlon Championship Series, having been victorious in 3 of the 5 series races.

## Early life

Wilde was born in Taupō, is the youngest of three brothers, and grew up in Whakatāne, New Zealand. Wilde attended Trident High School. Growing up Wilde played soccer and hockey before moving into running for fitness.

## Career

Wilde has been coached by Craig Kirkwood since 2016 after he beat Kirkwood in a local half marathon and currently trains in Tauranga, New Zealand. Wilde only took up triathlon after watching the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Wilde comes from a long-distance off-road background and has previously been the ITU Cross Tri U23 World Champion.
Career Highlights include:
* 3rd place at the 2019 Tokyo ITU World Triathlon Olympic Qualification Event
* 4th place at the 2019 ITU World Triathlon Edmonton
* 6th place at the 2019 Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon
* 10th place at the 2019 Daman World Triathlon Abu Dhabi
* 1st place at the 2019 Devonport OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Championships
* 3rd place at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
* 2nd place in the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series.
* Halberg award finalist for New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment 2022 for Tokyo Olympics Bronze medal win

### 2019 season

Wilde finished the season in 11th place in the ITU World Triathlon Series rankings, with 2019 being the first year he appeared in the top 50.

### 2021 season

Wilde finished fifth on the World Cup circuit in Leeds and third at the Europe Triathlon Championships in Austria. Wilde won the Super League Triathlon London race, ahead of France's Vincent Luis and British Athlete Jonny Brownlee. He went on to finish the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series in 2nd, behind Britain's Alex Yee.

### 2022 season

Wilde won the Arena Games Triathlon 2022 Series finale, held at Marina Bay, Singapore. It was his debut racing at Arena Games Triathlon format. This result was also good enough to see Wilde finish fifth in the inaugural Esport Triathlon World Championship.
He won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. This was, however, met with controversy when he was penalized for not racking his bike correctly, costing him a ten-second penalty, ultimately losing out on the gold to England's Alex Yee. Despite this, Wilde's sportsmanship was praised by the press and on social media.
Wilde made a strong start to the 2022 Super League Triathlon (SLT) season. He defended his SLT London title, with his second win in the British capital in as many years, and then finished third in SLT Munich the following week. Wilde followed up his early season success with further victories at SLT Malibu and SLT Toulouse, Super League's first event to be held in France. Wilde finished third at the 2022 SLT series finale in NEOM, this was enough for him to secure the overall series victory.
Wilde contested his penalty at the Triathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but this was later rejected.

## Sponsorship and advertising

April 2022 saw Wilde gain sponsorship from Red Bull.

## World Triathlon Series competitions

Wilde's World Triathlon Series race results are:
Results list :
| Date | Competition | Place | Rank |
| 2019-08-31 | World Triathlon Series | Grand Final Lausanne | 25 |
| 2019-08-16 | World Triathlon Series | Tokyo Olympic Qualification Event | 03 |

## World Triathlon Cup competitions

Wilde's World Triathlon Cup Series race results are:
Results list :
| Date | Competition | Place | Rank |
| 2020-03-14 | World Cup | Mooloolaba | 02 |
| 2019-09-07 | World Cup | Banyoles | 05 |
| 2019-06-23 | World Cup | Antwerp | DNF |
| 2019-03-31 | World Cup | New Plymouth | 04 |
| 2018-06-07 | World Cup | Antwerp | 20 |
| 2018-06-02 | World Cup | Cagliari | 02 |