Whakatāne’s Hayden Wilde has stunned the sporting world with his return to international competition.
Three months ago, Wilde crashed while out training on his bike in Japan. He suffered serious injuries and his season looked to be in real danger.

However, defying all odds, Wilde was back racing 98 days later and last weekend won the T100 triathlon race in London.

It was an effort that left the sporting world gobsmacked and in awe of how quickly the 27-year-old had bounced back.

Wilde took it easy in the swim to look after his shoulder, which now has metal plates in it, and came out of the water in 16th position. He was able to attack on the bike and made considerable ground before overtaking the leader, Rico Bogen, on the running leg and sprinted clear to claim a fantastic victory.

“I wasn’t afraid of the race at all. I’m used to racing these guys. I know what the level is and knew what my level was going into it,” Wilde said on the T100 broadcast.

Featuring a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run, the T100 is much longer than the triathlon Wilde competed in at the Paris Olympics last year where he was run down late by Great Britain’s Alex Yee and forced to settle for silver.

Wilde, who won the first T100 race of the season in Singapore in April is looking forward to continuing to improve as the season progresses.