Hayden Wilde has a dual aim at the Paris test event next week – Olympic qualification and a big step towards the world title.

The New Zealander, who just missed out on the latter last season, leads the way at the top of the WTCS standings with just Paris and the finale in Pontevedra to come.

Hayden Wilde on WTCS Sunderland

Wilde was derailed by a puncture in the season-opener in Dubai but since then has won in Yokohama and Hamburg as well as picking up a second place in Cagliari and third last time out in Sunderland.

And that performance in the North East of England was all the more impressive as he told us: “Since Hamburg I’d just been really struggling with a bit of flu symptoms for around 10 days.

“The training was actually going extremely well for the race [in Sunderland]. I was hitting the numbers but the recovery was terrible. I’d go home and just be absolutely knackered. So I was actually really happy and surprised I got over the line in third as it just wasn’t me on the run.”

Dual focus

And now all eyes turn to Paris when the two men who beat him to the Olympic title in Tokyo – Kristian Blummenfelt and Alex Yee – return to the fray.

Wilde beat Yee for the first time in a WTCS event they both finished with that super-smart acceleration into T2 in Hamburg.

“I actually had really good transition in Sunderland too, which was nice. I swear I haven’t been working on it! I’m just finally cracking it.

“It’ll be nice to be back at the Olympic distance. The last one was Cagliari and that was a real, tough battle with Alex which was cool. And I think we both want to re-edit the Abu Dhabi World Championships from last year and go toe-to-toe again.

“I’ve said it before but I never take any podium for granted – and it’s not just Alex and I that can win, anyone can win on a given day. If you are half a percent off, a percent off, you’ll pay for it.

“Pierre [Le Corre] and Leo [Bergere] were amazing in Sunderland, kudos to those guys and they’re looking great for the Paris event.”

Given his performances and the New Zealand qualification system, Wilde is all but assured of his Olympic spot next year but he’s not taking it for granted and has an added incentive at the test event, explaining: “Hopefully Paris goes really well because it’s 100% points there [given the Olympic distance] as opposed to 75% in Sunderland.

“So if I have another top three in Paris, which is the aim as it’s the automatic qualifier for me, that would give me more points and it would actually swap a race out as well. So more points the better as that gives me an opportunity to do worse in Pontevedra!

“It’s always nice going to a World Champs knowing that you don’t have to win the race to take the title.”