Aaron Gillions/Photosport
Hayden Wilde claimed victory in the latest round of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Hamburg. (File photo)
Hayden Wilde’s stunning World Triathlon Championship Series has continued, with the Kiwi claiming another victory in Hamburg on Sunday (NZ time).
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist had taken silver in the series-opener in Yokohama, scored a maiden victory on the circuit in Leeds, then finished second again a fortnight ago in Montreal.
Then in the latest round in Germany, the 24-year-old once again showed his class on the run to blitz the field, finishing in a time of 53 minutes, 10 seconds, three seconds clear of Australia’s Matt Hauser.
Wilde was nowhere to be seen after coming out of the swim way back in the field. But on the second lap of six on the bike, he made up time to be only 13 seconds behind the front of the pack, in 33rd position, then worked his way to the front and was still close come the transition.
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“It was pretty hard to get through everyone today,” Wilde said. “It was actually full-on on the bike, everyone wasn’t holding up, so I just had to stay calm and stay in position, knowing that we had a good group to catch up the front. It played out pretty well.”
Then on the two-lap 5km run, with positions constantly shifting, a group of six battled it out at the front, with Wilde hot on the heels of Hauser before putting the hammer down for the final kilometre, opening up a sizeable lead, and duly powering across the finish line in a 14:07 effort.
“At about halfway, [I] kicked into attack, tried to hold on, and got the win today,” he said.
Fellow Kiwis Dylan McCullough and Saxon Morgan finished 32nd and 42nd respectively.
The series now breaks for three months, before the remaining events in Cagliari (October 7-8), Bermuda (November 5-6) and Abu Dhabi (November 23-26).
Wilde, the series leader, now turns his attention to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, later this month.