Wilde marks remarkable return from crash with T100 win

The Olympic silver medallist broke four ribs, his scapula, and experienced lung damage after being hit by a lorry while riding his bike in Japan in May. The Kiwi showed no signs of lingering effects as he powered away from the field on the run to claim his second victory of the 2025 season.

Leo Bergere had led the race out of the 2km swim with Rico Bogen on his shoulder, while Wilde emerged 57 seconds down in 16th. He soon hunted those ahead him on the bike to join Mika Noodt as the chasing pack for Bogen, who had asserted himself into a dominant lead.

Bogen headed onto the run having delivered the fastest 80km bike time of the day and with a 1:13 lead over Wilde, who looked instantly comfortable on the run. With 7.1 km of the five-lap 18km run gone, Wilde assumed the lead, having sat behind Bogen for part of the second lap.

But, once ahead, the New Zealander was imperious, quickly establishing a huge gap as Bogen faded and was eventually overtaken by both Noodt and Jelle Geens. Wilde finished in a time of 3:17:37, one minute and seven seconds ahead of Germany’s Noodt as Geens completed the podium with the fast run time of the day.

Speaking on Wilde, Noodt said: “It is absolutely amazing, I mean huge respect to him. I also had a pretty bad bike crash last October so I can imagine what he went through. We share a couple of partners therefore I know he has got some great support, but it takes so much mental energy and some smart decisions to be made to come back that strong.

“Huge respect for him, I have to say, I am not surprised, there is a lot more of what it takes behind the scenes and what you don’t see when you see him here, there is so much sacrifice to make. It was great to have him back, even though during the race I really couldn’t enjoy it because it was so hard.”

Noodt’s second place was his best at T100 level after two third place finishes earlier this year. It means he now leads the overall standings after four races, as risks in the race paid off.

He added: “I really wanted to take some risks in the race, which I already did after 500m in the swim to close the gap, therefore it was a brutal day out, but I am super pleased with how it ended. I knew I was in great shape so if I blew up, I wouldn’t blow up completely and therefore I risked a little in the swim, and then on the bike I was on my limit for the first five laps.

“Then I saw that Hayden was also cooked so I was glad, but I didn’t have what it took to follow Rico on the bike, he was just amazing. The run was the most pleasant part of the day, and the easiest one. I settled into a nice rhythm, I didn’t try to go with Hayden. Even though he had this horrible crash, he is not here to come third place or something, he was here to win and willing to risk something.”

For information on how to register for the 2026 London T100 Triathlon on 25-26 July, visit www.t100triathlon.com