New Zealand’s double Olympic medallist Hayden Wilde is the star of the show in episode seven of Dare to Dream 2: The Next Move, released Wednesday 3 December on World Triathlon YouTube and TriathlonLive.

Following the eight contracted Hot Shot athletes heading from the World Triathlon Championship Series to the T100 circuit in 2025, the first four episodes starred Series leader Kate Waugh, Britain’s Jess Learmonth, T100 Dubai winner Morgan Pearson and rising talent Laura Madsen. 

Now, we lead into the all-important Qatar Finals on 11-13 December with deep dives inside the key races and reflections of French duo Leo Bergere and Vincent Luis, the remarkable comeback from injury of Hayden Wilde and USA’s ever-ambitious Taylor Spivey.

Hayden Wilde - Beyond The Scar
Some athletes take their foot off the gas after an Olympic campaign, but what has transpired for Wilde has been nothing short of extraordinary, testing himself physically and mentally in racing, but arguably even more so on the hospital bed and rehab facility.

The year had got off to a flying start for Wilde with golds in the WTCS Abu Dhabi season opener and again in Singapore on his T100 debut, where he was one of eight Hot Shot athletes selected for the 2025 Road to Qatar.

Then things fell apart. Ahead of May’s WTCS Yokohama, a training ride turned into a nightmare as he smashed into a truck and a car, puncturing his lungs and breaking his scapula in what looked like a season-ending incident.

Not for Wilde, though. Released from a Tokyo hospital to be flown back to Europe, an intense period of rehabilitation began in Austria. Incredibly, it took just 98 days to get back to racing, and only his second T100 in London in early August.

Wilde would go on to win the race.

Now he stands at the top of the T100 rankings with one race to go in Qatar, having racked up four straight wins in London, French Riviera, Spain and Wollongong.

The episode concludes with Hayden breaking down of one of his most impressive wins to date, at the T100 Wollongong, and the challenge of trying to follow that up the very next day at the Championship Finals Wollongong.