Hayden Wilde will likely start favourite for Saturday’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in his native Taupō, New Zealand – but winning is not all he is focused on.
The 27-year-old Kiwi triathlon superstar, second behind Alex Yee in that epic Olympic Games showdown at Paris 2024, steps up in distance to bid for his first world title over longer distances – creating massive interest in his homeland.
And ‘The Falcon’ is out to put that vaunted short-course speed to the very best use when he takes on some of the world’s finest middle-distance talents.
Wilde aiming for 1:05:00 half-marathon
Wilde has set himself a highly ambitious target for Saturday’s blockbuster – completing the race with a 1:05:00 half-marathon on the run. That would be potentially the fastest time ever recorded over the distance to close out a 70.3 race.
Spanish PRO Antonio Benito Lopez tops the list for the men right now with a time of 1:05:03 at the Zarausko Triathlon in June 2024. He’s followed by Nicholas Free (AUS), who ran a 1:05:56 at Challenge Cagnes-sur-Mer 2023, and Casper Stornes with a 1:06:02 in the books from IRONMAN 70.3 Nice in 2021.
Notably, Jan Frodeno’s half marathon time from the 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa still has him sitting at #7 in this top 10. A drama-filled battle on the run with Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez saw Frodeno stride to victory with a terrific run split of 1:06:33.
READ MORE: What is a good IRONMAN 70.3 time?
In what will be just his third IRONMAN 70.3 race, Wilde knows he’s going to have to give it everything he’s got and empty the tank to win the world title – hence that lofty goal of a 65-minute (1:05) run leg over the 21.1km course.
“I went out and said I want to run a 65, I’ve run this course a few times during a few training sessions and was able to hit those numbers. It’s courageous for sure and I know that, but in Melbourne [when qualifying for this race] I was on more or less that time, it was a flatter course but the same wind direction, but I feel like I’ve trained a lot more specifically since that Melbourne race.
“It all depends on how the race goes, I know watching as a fan, watching these lads race, the bike has been full on so you might not have those legs but if I’m smart on the bike and come off feeling good, I’ll definitely aim for 65 – if I blow, I blow, but I gave it a good crack.”
The eyes of a nation focused on Hayden
Wilde is excited for Saturday’s race, and it comes with added pressure given the attention that will be on him. It feels like the eyes of New Zealand will be on him as he lines up for that glory bid.
“I’m based in Whakatane on the East Coast, but I was originally born here in Taupō. It’s super special, friends, family, grandparents, everyone’s coming over to watch. At the moment, not just in triathlon, sport in general is having a huge spike in New Zealand, so there’ll be people from all sorts of sporting codes coming to watch. They say there’s going to be 26,000 people, including participants and their families, but I feel like there’s going to be a lot more coming in,” he said.
“We’ve got a massive rich history in sport. We love punching above our weight and normally, we don’t get to hold a World Championship in New Zealand, not just for a triathlon, but just sport in general, normally it’s only a Rugby World Cup that we get to host here, so it’s a lot different for us, and hopefully the community gets behind it.
“It’s really cool that Taupō and the local iwi are letting us race here as well. It’s a blessing to be here, we know how sacred this land is, so it’s really nice that they’re letting us do our thing here. Hopefully we can just get out there, respect the land, and respect the people, and get the job done.”
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