Wilde runs 14:07 for 5 km to take WTCS Hamburg
Olympic bronze medalist's run split could be the fastest ever
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World Triathlon
It has become a classic event on the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) calendar every year – since 2002 the world’s best triathletes have come to Hamburg, Germany for a downtown event that routinely attracts huge crowds. While Flora Duffy overcame a 10-second penalty to take the women’s race, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde took his second WTCS win of the year thanks to a blazing 14:07 run split.
How fast is that? Wilde would have finished third at last year’s Canadian National 5K championships behind Lucas Bruchet (13:49) and Justin Kent (14:03). It’s an average of 2:49/km (4:32/mile).
It’s hard to know for certain if Wilde’s split is the fastest 5 km run ever run in a sprint triathlon (and, yes, it’s hard to be absolutely certain that the run course is accurate), but it is certainly the fastest run in the last two years based on stats from World Triathlon, and is likely the fastest ever recorded. Wilde was only improving on his own leading run split – he ran 14:11 to win WTCS Leeds last month. The Hamburg course was certainly fast – 17 of the top-20 in the men’s race ran under 15 minutes and 20 men in total broke the 15-minute barrier.
Here’s a list (provided by World Triathlon) of the fastest 5 km runs done at World Triathlon events in the last two years:
| Leo Bergere | 14:52 Leeds | Flora Duffy | 16:12 Abu Dhabi |
| Hayden Wilde | 14:11 Leeds | Beth Potter | 16:22 Abu Dhabi |
| Vincent Luis | 15:16 Leeds | Taylor Spivey | 16:46 Abu Dhabi |
| Jelle Geens | 14:53 Leeds | Summer Rappaport | 17:01 Abu Dhabi |
| Mario Mola | 14.56 Arzachena | Alberte Kjaer | 16:58 Leeds |
| Jake Birtwhistle | 14:53 Leeds | Laura Lindemann | 16:47 Leeds |
| Jawal Abdelmoula | 15:07 Leeds | Emma Lombardi | 17:12 Caorle |
| Vasco Vilaca | 14:33 Leeds | Natalie Van Coevorden | 17:06 Leeds |
| Lasse Luhrs | 14:33 Leeds | Miriam Casillas | 17:05 Leeds |
At the race in Hamburg, France’s Vincent Luis led the men out of the water, hauling the lead group to T1 with a 28-second lead on many of the race favourites including Wilde, Belgium’s Jelle Geens and Spain’s Mario Mola. The lead group was caught before the end of the first of six laps on the bike, which set up a huge group all hitting T2 together, setting up the 5 km dash to the line.
Wilde had a poor transition and was at the tail end of the large lead group at the start of the run, but made it to the front of the race by the 2.5 km point and blasted clear.
“It was pretty hard to get through everyone today, it was actually full-on on the bike so I just had to stay calm and in position, knowing that we had a good group to catch up in front with that head-wind, it paid up pretty well,” Wilde said after the race. “Having a rusty T2, a lot of people coming in at the same time, but it actually worked in my favour, going out there’s a hit of a head-wind so I got to tuck into a few athletes until we got the tail-wind on the run. Then halfway, I kicked an attack and tried to hold on and got the win today.”
Australian Matthew Hauser would take second, with Jawad Abdelmoula claiming Morocco’s first WTCS medal.
Canadians in the field included Brock Hoel (49th, 57:10) and Jeremy Briand (57:48).
You can see full results of the race here:
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