Hayden Wilde will take a two-year ‘rest period’ from WTCS short-course triathlon as he plans to step up in distance in 2025.
The 27-year-old New Zealander had a spectacular 2024 despite just missing out on two huge prizes, Olympic Games gold at Paris 2024 and then the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in his native Taupō on Sunday. On both occasions he looked booked for victory before being passed late by Britain’s Alex Yee in France, and by Belgium’s Jelle Geens over the weekend.
Despite those agonising near misses it was a season where Wilde again raised his reputation even higher, with his all-in style of racing and sportsmanship making him a superstar at home and abroad. He also did win the supertri title and was a brilliant winner of the WTCS Grand Final in Torremolinos.
READ MORE: What is a good IRONMAN 70.3 time?
Now though, with his next Olympic bid in L.A. still four years away, Hayden has decided to taper back on his short-course racing and will instead experiment with longer distances, starting in 2025.
Wilde will race WTCS in Abu Dhabi early in the year but then won’t appear again in the series until October, with the interim being set aside for middle-distance action.
Hayden Wilde announces decision
Revealing the news while speaking to New Zealand broadcaster RNZ, he said: “I’m going to take a two-year rest period from the World Triathlon Series, just have a bit of a mental break. Not saying that I’m not gonna race, I won’t be focusing hard on the (World Triathlon Championship) series, I might do one or two races per year in the series just to keep my ranking up.
“But as soon as the LA Olympic window opens I will be back full time in short-course triathlon, but for now it’s just to kind of have some experiments in the longer stuff, and for sure still dabble in short distance but not as much as I normally would be, it’ll be nice to have a bit of a refresher.”
Hayden Wilde to do full distance Ironman?
While Wilde is planning to step up to middle-distance racing regularly in 2025, what about full distance and the lure of the Ironman distance? It seems like we’ll have to wait a little while for that.
“Give me four years time, after L.A. I don’t wanna lose all my speed. As soon as you start training for an Ironman, it’s a long day and it just takes away your speed. So, need to keep that for L.A. But then 2028 I’d love to go to Kona or go to the full Ironman distance.”
READ MORE: Triathlon distances explained, including Olympic and Ironman
Wilde will not be the only short-course superstar cutting back on WTCS in 2025 with the post-Olympic year giving athletes the chance to pursue other dreams.
Norwegian superstar Kristian Blummenfelt, Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, will target the IRONMAN Pro Series, while new Olympic king Alex Yee announced on Monday afternoon that he will target the London Marathon in the first part of 2025.
Triathlon’s mid-season report card: Tim Don on who’s raising the bar this triathlon race season
