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November 23, 2024 • 12 mins

It's been a memorable year for Kiwi triathlete Hayden Wilde.

Wilde helped add to New Zealand's medal count in the 2024 Paris Olympics - having won silver in the men's triathlon.

He joined Piney to recap the year.

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from News Talks EDB Weekend Sport.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
On Newstalk's EDB. What a year it's been for Hayden
wild He was part of an absolutely dramatic means triathlon
race at the Paris Olympic Games.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
It has been nothing short of sensational from Hayden Wilds.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
But here's Alex.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
He certainly closed the gap as they make the one
hundred and eighty degree turn for home. Alex He's left
it to the final moments where you are going to
have a sprint finish here in Parish. Alexy is within
meeters now and ALEXYE has timed it to absolute perfection.

(00:51):
Alexy overtakes Hayden wild and is in the gold medal
position with the final bush towards the finish line absolutely unbelievable.
He turns for home, Alex Ye. That is simply sensational.
Weeks off our cap to you here in New Zealands.

(01:14):
It is heartbreaking for Hayden Wilds, but Alex.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Ye has left.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
It to about two hundred and three hundred meters to
go on the final turn to win gold in the
men's triathlon in Olympic record time, beating out Hayden Wilds
by seven agonizing, extruciating seconds.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
A yeah, every living at all. Nick Bili's wonderful call.
Olympic silver medal for Hayden Wilde and Paris Super Try
champion this year, the first Kiwi winner of the Laguna
Pouquette Triathlon in Thailand, third in the World Triathlon Series
after winning the season finale in Spain last month, and
back home now to prepare for the Ironman seventy point

(02:01):
three World Championship in Topar on December fifteenth, and wild
is with us on weekend sport. Actually let's start there,
Heyden in Topaul December fifteen, the iron Man seventy point
three World Championship. How are you tracking towards that event?

Speaker 5 (02:17):
Goody hopeful as well? Yeah, tracking very well. I think
I'm currently running on fumes. It's been a very big
back end of the season. But I'm kind of yeah,
looking forward to racing the cerning point three World champs
in tot Ford just more so. It's just a different
format and it kind of you know, spices up a
little bit then to what I originally do, so.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
It's actually kind of actually pushed the motivation.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Up a lot more so the distance is quite different,
aren't they from from Olympic distance one point nine k swim,
ninety k bike, half marathon run. Have you had to
up your training or do you already have the base
that will allow you to do well and over those distances?

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Yeah, so I guess pretty pretty lucky that training for
Olympic distance. You know, we're on about twenty five thirty
hours of training a week, so there's just like a
little like few tweaks that you do throughout the training sessions,
you know, more time on the time trial bike considered
the road bike is yeah, predominantly you're you know, you're
racing on the TT bike and then just like those

(03:15):
longer a team po efforts normally obviously it's so weird
like biomechanically and yeah, newly speaking like it for me,
it's so easy to run it to any point three pace,
but it's to learn how to run at their pace.
It's like, it's a funny, it's a weird thing to say,
but you know, I'm more than happy to run, you know,

(03:37):
to two fifty two fifty five's off the bike for
a ten k. But it's actually really hard for me
to slow my body right down and run, you know,
a little bit slower to survive the twenty one k.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm sure you'll work it out once Topor rolls around.
I just want to ask you about a couple of
your recent recent wins, the Laguna Pouquette Triathlon in Thailand.
How do you reflect on that?

Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, it was an awesome experience, you know, like it's
it's one of those iconic races and in the trifon
world that you want to win. So to take the
win and you know, I didn't realize but your first
KIV we to do it, which is cool, you know,
like many Olympic champions have won the race and it's
a pretty iconic one and to get the course record
along with it was pretty awesome as well. And just

(04:19):
really enjoying my time on the time trial bike. And
I mean it was so hot, like I was. I
came from Abadhabi which was for two weeks, and yeah,
it was actually like super hot there, but the humidity
wasn't as high, but racing and pookit. It was a
storm the day before and it just made it so
humid and it wasn't actually too hot like it was

(04:40):
only like relatively speaking, it was only about thirty degrees
and I was used to training in thirty five plus.
But it was just the humidity just eats you from
inside out and you're just trying cool down, but your
body course is so elevated.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
And for example, you know I was running for twelve k.

Speaker 5 (04:57):
I normally run for twelve k about two fifty two
fifty five pace at about one sixty five one seventy
heart race. For this race, I was running thirty seconds
slower at about three to twenty paces in My heart
rate was as high as it was running Yeah, that
two fifty two fifty five pace. So it just gives
you an example of how tough it is racing and

(05:17):
that sort of community.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Absolutely, And what about the winning Malaga in Spain in
the final event of the World Triathlon Series. How satisfying
was that it was?

Speaker 4 (05:28):
It was? It was awesome.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
That was literally the way I raced there was literally
how how I you know, you never Trython's is one
of those ones where you can't control a race and
you can't predict it. But the way that I won
that race and the way I raced it was the
way that I wanted to win Paris, and I know
I had it in me to do it that sort
of way, and yeah, the stars aligned and to take
a Grand final out I was. I was pretty proud

(05:49):
of that one. And yeah, definitely one of my most
completed complete races with all three disciplines and yet to
take other grand final.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
It was pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
You mentioned Paris there. How do you reflect on the
Olympic Triathlon?

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Yeah, like it was.

Speaker 5 (06:05):
It was, you know, yeah, as much as you want
to you wanted to win the win the gold, silver,
it was and I have to be proud of it,
you know.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
I put everything out on the line and.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
I was, yeah, absolutely stoked the way I raced, and
I still to this day like it was.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
It was a great race to me.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
You know, it was a little bit behind on the swim,
but there was people in that swim that were in
front of me that normally aren't, and there were people
that normally swim in front of me were well behind,
and it was just the currents of the of the
sin that was very tricky to navigate. And yeah, for me,
it only took you know, a good ten minutes to
catch back up with the help of my teammate Dylan,

(06:43):
and yeah, it was just like looking back, just it
was a great it was a great team effort. But
also it was just yees, so cool to to grab
another medal, you know, with trifle, you just don't you know,
we don't get the opportunity to race for the six
medals or anything per games. We only get one chance
every four years, so it's you're not many people can

(07:05):
say you've been to two games and got two Olympic medals.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
So pretty pretty proud of that.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
And yeah, I guess like one thing that I do
look back on is I guess a little bit of
frustration from the from the decision was I think we
were expecting to potentially have the date postpone, but to
have it at a different time was. Yeah, it was
I think I caught everyone off guard. Being myself based
in Andorra, we didn't prepare at all for the for

(07:32):
the heat, you know, a bit cold up in the Pyrenees,
and unfortunately the heat got to me in the race
and my plan on the run went absolutely perfectly. But
we didn't calculate it was going to be mid thirties
at high humidity, and as I explained before, you know,
humidity kills you from inside inside out, and that's what
it did in the last few kaes of the run.

(07:52):
And yeah, it was what it was, and I guess
it just makes me hungry to come back to La.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
The reason for the for being pushed back was the
was the scene right? The water quality? There was so
much discussion about it in the lead up to it.
How bad was the scene to swim in?

Speaker 4 (08:11):
It actually wasn't too bad. You know, I didn't smell
or was.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
I personally thought it was fine. It was just more
like the current was actually really really like tricky to navigate.
So you know, example, if you go to the swimming
pool and you want to and you and you have
to swim one minute twenty for one hundred meters, that's
how strong the current was.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
So try and swim that and trying.

Speaker 5 (08:34):
Swim in one to twenty four hundred meters in the pool,
and that's how fuss the current was. So we went down,
we went down the scene in you know, four minutes
over four hundred and fifty meters, but we came back
in about ten minutes. So it just shows how hard
it was to navigate and how hard that sim was.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
And you mentioned before how the time change altered things
with the humidity and how that sort of caught up
with you on the run. Hindsight, it's always a wonderful thing.
But would you have done anything differently given your time?

Speaker 4 (09:01):
Again, I don't, honestly.

Speaker 5 (09:04):
The only thing I would have done different would have
been preparations training would have been just more a little
bit more heat training, and that's all I would have done,
to be honest. Yeah, everything else was perfect. Like, I
was swimming the best I've ever swum. I was riding
extremely strong, and yeah, I was running the way I
ran That race was exactly how I want I'd run it.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
It was just, yeah, it wasn't meant to be.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
As you look ahead, then, Hayden, is there one of
the three disciplines where you can see the biggest potential
for growth and improvement over the next Olympic cycle?

Speaker 5 (09:36):
Yeah, Like, obviously the swimmer is my weakest and starting
with a new swim coach obviously coach by Craig, but
having a watchful live of my new SIOM coach, Fred
who's who was the head of YEA Spanish swimming for
six Olympic cycles. He's been my coach for two years
now and it's been a process. You know, We've had

(09:58):
to completely change my biomechanical movements in the water, so
my whole stroke technique, because yeah, as much as you
can get fitter and faster in the pool, you're never
going to get faster overall just with techniques.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
So techniques are massive part to play.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
And yeah, that was part of part of our restructure
and into Paris. And I know when my body gets
used to the new style, I'll just faster and faster
in the water, which is as super satisfying to know that.
And I know also we've found data within my training
that there's many areas in the bike that I can

(10:34):
improve as well. And that's the good thing is when
I get faster in the swimm, i've become more efficient.
When I become more faster and more efficient on the bike,
it makes my run even faster. So it's a pretty
scary thing, but I know I can actually improve a
heck of a lot heading into heading into LA but
it depends on how much my competition also improves as well.

(10:55):
But I know which is it's pretty exciting that I
know that I can improve still a lots in my
I guess my third Olympic cycle.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely that's bringing well bronze, Tokyo silver powers. I mean
the stars are aligning up they for gold in la
I know it's easy to say, but but that is
that is, that's that's where we're headed now. But in
amongst all of that, are you gonna do more of
the longer distance stuff or how will the next three
or four years be structured for you?

Speaker 5 (11:20):
Yeah, so for the next two years, I've decided to
take your break on the Olympic distance racing, and yeah,
it's a good opportunity just to have a mental break
as well. And for me, I'll be doing the the
T one hundred series, so it's like one hundred kilometer
distance which is just below RF home Man and that's
the new pro series. So I'll be doing that for
the next few years, but also doing the super try stuff,

(11:41):
So keeping the working on my weaknesses throughout the next
two years and just having a good time. But also yeah,
going into the supertri stuff that I know really well,
but yeah, keeping that speed and that sharpness from that racing.
So and then two years before the Olympics in la

(12:01):
Is to get back on the horse and yeah get
back into it.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Wonderful stuff. Well you provide us with a marvelous moment
in Paris, Hayden. Great to have you back home. All
the best in Sopoor middle of December and then hopefully
a break after that. Great to get the chance to
chat mate. Thanks for taking the time, Cheers for having
me mate now, thank you for joining us, Hayden. Hayden,
while there are bronze and a silver now in the
men's triathlon at the last two Olympic Games, so yeah,
maybe maybe it's gold in la and twenty twenty eight.

(12:27):
Good to know he's committed to the next Olympic cycle.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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