Male pro season shake up for T100 and Ironman 70.3 as Hayden Wilde lies recovering in hospital
A bike crash in Japan landed the top-ranked athlete in surgery following a stellar day racing a 10K in Tokyo
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Sportograf
A serious bike crash has Olympian Hayden Wilde’s season on the ropes. After a record-setting 10K race in Japan on the weekend, the New Zealander went out for a bike ride and finished on a gurney in a Tokyo hospital. He suffered four broken ribs, a broken scapular and injuries to his lungs. It’s not clear how the accident happened.
As a result of his lung injuries he wasn’t able to fly out of Tokyo and remained in hospital recovering there after surgery. The injuries are serious enough that Wilde’s entire season could be in jeopardy. As one of triathlon’s strongest competitors, his absence from the racing scene steals some of the excitement for fans and spectators. It’s one less threat from his top competitors, but injuries are part of the sport, and race day is about battling those who are on the start line. It would definitely shake up the predictions and change how the season rolls out for the men’s field both on the PTO T100 World Tour and Ironman courses if his season is a write-off.
Post-crash, Wilde released the news on his Instagram account, describing his injuries and providing some insight into his immediate future.
“I’m surrounded by the best help. Keep you posted,” he wrote. “Pretty gutted after such a nice day yesterday.”
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A stellar 10k road race shatters his PB just a day before
He thanked his “inner circle” at Red Bull and Asics for their support, sharing that he would be stuck in Japan for several weeks as he recovered.
Wilde ran in the Asics Tokyo Speed Race the day before, coming only seconds away from breaking the national New Zealand 10K record with a time of 27 minutes and 39 seconds, only 11 seconds off from the record. He finished in seventh place.
Earlier this year, he entered into the long-distance T100 World Tour circuit, after a long and successful career in short-course. In his first T100 race in Singapore he took first under the blazing sun, putting out an incredibly strong run performance as other competitors succumbed to the heat. He has also claimed podiums at the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship with a second place finish, and the top spot at the 2023 Ironman 70.3 Melbourne.
Wilde garnered a lot of hardware racing short-course with a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, winner of the 2021 Xterra World Championship, and overall series winner in the 2022 Super League Triathlon Championship.
Last year, Wilde announced that he would be taking a break from short-course racing for two years to focus on the longer distances, ahead of the next Olympic cycle. His current injuries through a wrench into that plan, and it remains to be scene what can be salvaged. Speaking about his career plans last year, he said he’d be looking to the full Ironman after the 2028 Olympics, aiming to race on the Ironman World Championship Kona, Hawaii course.