Hayden Wilde wins T100 London in Amazing Comeback Story

Hayden Wilde had an incredible race on Saturday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

After an amazing women’s race in the UK on Saturday afternoon, the men took to the same course for T100 London. Much like in the women’s event, the men put on a remarkable show for everyone who was in attendance or watching live online. After a tough 62 miles of racing, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde took the win, flying to the title with a 1:01:20 run. The win comes just three months after Wilde suffered a horrific crash while on a training ride in Japan that left him with a punctured lung, multiple broken ribs and a broken scapula.

Wilde Hangs on in the Swim

Paris Olympics bronze medallist Leo Bergere of France led the race early on in the swim. He never had too much of a lead, though, as T100 San Francisco champ Rico Bogen was just two seconds behind him as they exited the water. Dutchman Menno Koolhaas and 2024 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens were both nearby with less than 10 seconds separating them from the lead, and Germany’s Mika Noodt was 12 seconds off the pace when he got out of the water and set off for T1.

The pro men dive in at T100 London. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

A big question going into Saturday was whether Wilde would be able to swim well enough to keep up with the leaders. He was left swimming with just one arm as he recovered from his multiple injuries, and he has not been back to full-on swimming for very long. Amazingly, he swam very well — and not just for someone who had surgery a few months ago. He climbed out of the water a minute back of the lead, part of a group of seven men.

Bogen Hammers the Bike

The first quarter of the ride saw five men staying pretty close to one another. Bergere, Bogen, Noodt, Koolhaas and Geens were all within 15 seconds of one another for quite a while, but just before the 11-mile mark, Bogen took off and built a gap of 26 seconds. Bergere and Noodt followed for a while, occasionally bringing the deficit down to under 20 seconds, but Bogen always found a way to add to it whenever they got too close. Meanwhile, Wilde made his way into the top five, sitting 44 seconds back.

Rico Bogen built a sizeable lead in the latter half of the bike. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

At the halfway point, Wilde had climbed into second, 30 seconds behind Bogen and a few seconds ahead of Noodt. For the next 20 miles, it was a true game of cat and mouse. Wilde would eat away at Bogen’s lead, bringing it down to as little as 16 seconds, then just a couple of miles later, it would bounce back to close to a minute. The gap fluctuated split after split, at one point getting as high as a minute and a half.

When Bogen reached T2, he had a comfortable lead of 1:14 over Wilde. It looked like the race was his to lose, but it turned out to be Wilde’s to win.

Back Like He Never Left

To fully appreciate how quickly Wilde was running, it’s worth repeating that the deficit he faced between himself and Bogen after the ride was 1:14. By the end of the first 2.3-mile lap, he was just 29 seconds behind the German. Less than a lap later, he made the pass, and at that point, it was hard to believe that a crash, injuries or a surgery were part of his recent history.

Wilde had essentially locked up the win at that point. His lead over Bogen continued to grow, and eventually Noodt passed his compatriot to move into second place. With two laps to go, Wilde was up a full minute on Noodt, and that was where the gap stayed for the remainder of the run. It looked like Wilde was on cruise control as he powered to the finish.

Wilde wins his first race back after injury. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Wilde crossed the line in 3:17:37, winning his first race back after that terrible accident in May. Noodt finished in second, posting a final time of 3:18:44. Further back, Geens had worked his way onto the podium. He was in sixth after the bike, four and a half minutes back of Bogen. He ran at a blistering average pace of 5:23 per mile for the 11-mile run, ultimately making it onto the podium in 3:19:50.

“It didn’t feel so smooth,” Geens said after his amazing run. “It was a bit of a struggle.” He said he was hoping to shoot for second place, but after he passed Bogen, he realized he had likely run out of room to catch Noodt.

“I was like, ‘Ooph, I have to settle for third,'” he said. Despite having to “settle,” Geens’s third-place finish moves him into first in the T100 standings. Noodt will also move up in the ranks, climbing from fourth to second after his performance in London.

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