Hayden Wilde labelled it “diabolical” and his rivals for the T100 and WTCS crowns might call it something similar after the Kiwi superstar unveiled an incredible calendar for the rest of 2025.
Wilde completed one of the great sporting comebacks last weekend when he won T100 London less than 100 days after he was hit by a truck while out riding in Japan which left him with a punctured lung, six broken ribs, and a smashed-up scapula on his left shoulder
That London triumph made him the first double T100 winner – male or female – this season following his success in Singapore in April.
With at least three more races (T100 Valencia is up in the air) still to come ahead of the World Championship Final in Qatar in December it means Wilde is in pole position, with the best four results plus Qatar counting towards the final standings.
All to play for
But it also seems like the double Olympic medallist hasn’t given up hope of a first WTCS title as well!
In that series it’s the best three results plus the season-finale in Woolongong and Wilde took the opener in Abu Dhabi, his only WTCS race to date in 2025.
Frustratingly that race was only 750 points to the winner rather than 1000 for the other races bar the final. It was sprint rather than Olympic distance but then so was WTCS Hamburg which saw Matt Hauser awarded 1000 points to extend his lead in the Championship thanks to two wins and a second for a grand total of 2925 points.
However it sounds like Wilde is going to throw everything at it for now at least, which means he is currently planning two double-headers when both the T100 and WTCS race on the same weekend – first in Frejus, France and then Woolongong, Australia.
Double header on French Riviera
Revealing his Kristian Blummenfelt-like race calendar when chatting to Aaron Royle and Jelle Geens on the ‘All In Triathlon‘ podcast [click here to listen in full], Wilde set out his plans.
It all starts in Frejus on August 30 with T100 French Riviera, followed the next day by the WTCS race when he will lock horns with great rival Alex Yee – who pipped him to Olympic gold last summer – for the first time this season.
Wilde explained: “Under World Series rules you have to have a 24 hours stand down period and luckily for me it’s 25 hours [between the men’s races] so I’m fine.
“And I’m lucky because it’s a sprint. My body tends to feel pretty good one or two days after a race – I normally feel it probably on day three so I’m hoping that that’s the case again.”
‘Diabolical’ September
So that’s a busy end to August and Wilde added: “The month of September is a bit diabolical but it should be fun.
“Hopefully France goes well and then I’ll continue my World Series campaign with Karlovy Vary (14th September) in the Czech Republic and then Weihai (26th September) in China.”
T100 Valencia is also scheduled for the weekend in between those two races but construction work around the marina means an alternative venue still needs to be found.
Wilde continued: “And then I’ll probably go directly from Weihai to Wollongong which is three weeks after and will again be another double weekend [18th and 19th October].
“This time the WTCS Grand Final will be 26 hours before the T100 and for me the priority there [if still in contention] will be the World Series.”
It would be one of the great triathlon achievements if Wilde can pull off the T100 / WTCS double but after what happened in London there will be few betting against him.
Wildcard for the 70.3 Worlds?
And it’s fair to say he feels a little hard done by in terms of the way the World Triathlon calendar has worked out.
Of the 750 / 1000 points discrepancy in Abu Dhabi he said: “They did that to me also in 2023 where Leo [Bergere] won the series when they made one of his races a thousand points but my race 750, because it was a thousand points at the start of the year but then they changed it to the sprint 750 and Olympic 1000.
“So yeah, I’m getting a bit stitched up again – it’s a lot of points and so I need good races in Frejus and Karlovy Vary.
“And frustratingly it’s then not the old course of Weihai – they’ve taken out the hard course and now it’s pan flat.”
That last point is a real shame for everyone as Weihai was one of the most watchable and exciting courses of 2024.
Kudos to Wilde for giving it a go, though he does acknowledge it all means he has little margin for error: “It might just be like a complete blowout and Frejus will be my decision race whether I do those other short course races because if I have an absolute doozy in France, there’s really no point.”
Intriguingly he also threw in the possibility of tackling the IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds on 8th November in Marbella.
Wilde was runner-up to none other than Geens in that last year but hasn’t qualified this time around as his injury meant he was unable to get a race in.
He explained: “I’ve already applied for like a wild card and we’re just waiting to see what they say because I did have two 70.3s lined up before the crash happened.”
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