Hayden Wilde credited his strong swim for allowing him to storm to a record-breaking victory at the Singapore T100 event. The defending champion was in imperious form as he delivered the biggest winning margin in men's T100 history – coming home six minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Sam Dickinson in second place, with Germany's Mika Noodt in third.
The Kiwi produced an excellent performance in the water – clocking a time of 26 minutes and nine seconds – to see him trail then leader Dickinson by just nine seconds. From there, the 28-year-old was rampant on the bike as he established a two minute and 14 second lead over Dickinson, before taking the win in the first race of the new campaign with a composed run.
Having also won the event last year, Wilde, who trailed by 50 seconds after the swim 12 months ago, was delighted he didn't have to make so much time up at the start of the race this time around.
"I'm really, really happy," said the New Zealander. "I started off with a happy swim. If I was far behind, I was not going to put socks on, but I was like, 'Okay, I'm gonna put socks on.' So, I had the time to be able to put socks on, and that gives me extra time to just get in and get out of T2.
"I think the biggest thing for me out of here is the confidence out of the water. Last year [in Singapore] I was a minute back. We had more or less the same sort of swimmers up front and we were going at a similar pace and that felt really comfortable and good. Hopefully I take this on board and look for the next one.
"I think it was harder this year than last year – and I just made sure I just raced my race out there today. I think we started a bit earlier, so we were in the heat for a lot longer, and I think we only really got cloud cover until probably halfway through the run. So, it was super hot out there. Power was real low today, and obviously run speed was a bit lower too. But yeah, as I said, I just tried to keep my numbers and made sure I was just doing my own race up there."
Dickinson also had a day to remember as the Brit put in a breakout performance despite slipping his chain during the cycle, to improve on his previous best T100 finish of third place on debut in the French Riviera last year. The York-native was strong during the swim and a good performance on foot allowed him to claim second place and with it, a cheque for $35,000.
"I'm delighted to be fair," said Dickinson, who claimed bronze at Paris 2024 in the triathlon mixed relay. "It's not bad, is it? Decent, decent race. I think Vicky Holland [T100 commentator whose husband Rhys Davey is Sam's coach] on comms must be my lucky charm, to be honest. I managed to stay calm and stay cool and, am super pleased to back up the hard work in the first race of the season. This is a good start."
On the chain issue he faced, Dickinson continued: "It wasn't my finest moment. I felt like a bit of a Chain-asurus Rex but managed to just about get it back on and stay calm. I had some problems all day with shifting."
"A few years ago, at the start of my career, I probably would've done the same thing. But I'm old enough and ugly enough now to just chill out."
On Wilde's exploits, Dickinson added: "Hayden was winning every day and twice on Sunday. It was a really solid performance from him today.
"I'm all for it [the T100 format being included in the Olympics]. You know me, I'm a sucker for the Olympics. Any chance to get another medal in triathlon, I'll be all for it. But we've got to make it more entertaining. I think we've got to really spice it up and get some exciting racing going on. I'll do my best to catch up with Hayden and make it a show."
