Nicknamed the Falcon due to his propensity to come from behind and pick off competitors, Hayden Wilde has seen an equally meteoric rise in his career. His breakout performance was arguably his bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, but since then he's been battling it out with a new wave of talent in short-course competitions, starring in his fair share of sprint finishes with the likes of Alex Yee and Léo Bergere. We caught up with the New Zealander several days after his third-place finish in Sunderland to take a peek into the future...
220: How did you find Sunderland?
Hayden Wilde: All things considered, I was actually really stoked how everything went. I knew coming into the race I was pretty fatigued, so I was just crossing the fingers and hoping that I could turn up to the race in some sort of shape. It replaced the Abu Dhabi race [points-wise, where Hayden finished 46th after a mechanical].
I ideally didn't want to race the mixed relay, but I could take one for the team. Half our team got ill [an investigation into the water quality at Roker beach is underway]. I was opting to take the day off as I was still feeling a little bit under the weather post-Hamburg, but it was actually good fun. Cold as ever. I've never worn a thermal cap before! You get brain freeze for about three minutes and then you're alright.
220: How have you found the series' varying formats this year?
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Esta historia es de la edición October 2023 de 220 Triathlon.
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