Hayden Wilde capped a phenomenal season on the T100 Triathlon World Tour by winning the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final in Lusail on Friday to secure the World Title crown he craved.
Starting the day with a clear advantage over Belgian Jelle Geens and German Mika Noodt in the rankings, the New Zealander was never really tested and cruised to his sixth win from seven starts on the T100 Tour this year.
In doing so, he secured maximum points and has set down a serious marker for 2026.
“It’s pretty special from starting in Singapore, then being in hospital for a bit, and then coming back and winning a few races, and then finishing here in Qatar. It’s been a long season but it’s nice to finish up.'
“I just want to see more short course athletes come and toss it up with us, you know, the likes of Matty Hauser and Alex [Yee] if those guys want to come over and have a bit of fun. I love this sort of racing, it really shows how good you can be individually on the bike and the run.”
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
France’s Vincent Luis and the USA’s Morgan Pearson got to work early in the 2km swim to create a leading group of eight including the Belgium pairing of Jelle Geens (2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings) and 2024 T100 World Champion Marten Van Riel. Meanwhile 5x T100 winner, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, was 40 seconds off the pace.
Onto the 80km bike course, it wasn’t long before Wilde bridged to the front group, which also included cycling strongmen Mika Noodt and Rico Bogen of Germany and Van Riel with Pearson losing touch and France’s Mathis Margirier coming through. Around half-way through the course, Bogen came down on a dusty corner but was quick to remount and regain position while Geens started to drop down the order.
After leading into T2, Wilde was first onto the 18km run and seemingly ready for a procession fitting of his dominance throughout the 2025 T100 season. A few seconds behind him, Bogen charged out of T2 while a trio of Van Riel, Margirier and Noodt formed, running shoulder to shoulder. Behind, Geens was 2:18 in arrears with Pearson at 2:43 – however the US-athlete soon established himself as fastest on course, dipping just below 3min per km pace.
With around 10km to go, Van Riel dropped a few metres picking up his special needs bottle while Margirier and Noodt stayed locked together. Van Riel made it back on just as they picked up Bogen, now running as quartet as they hit the half-way mark – 1:20 behind Wilde but with Pearson only another 25 seconds behind.
Pearson made the catch with around 7km to go, blasting through the group and moving from 6th to 2nd. Margirier tried to go with the move, distancing Noodt and Van Riel, but by 3km to go, the pair had once again overhauled the Frenchman. From there, Van Riel was first to make his move, powering away from Noodt to take a clear podium position for the first time in the run.
Despite the action behind, Wilde’s win was never in doubt. The Kiwi crossed the line to take his 6th victory of the season and the T100 Triathlon World Championship title having amassed a perfect score across 2025. Wilde takes $25,000 for the win in Qatar – added to the $125,000 already earned in race wins this year – and also bags $200,000 for winning the T100 Race To Qatar.
Pearson ran hard to the line to take 2nd place, moving himself up to 4th in the T100 Race To Qatar standings, Van Riel came home in third, ceding his 2024 world title, but taking 6th in the T100 Standings. Noodt’s 4th place secured 2nd overall in the T100 Standings, and Margirier rounded out the top-five, the Frenchman finishing the season in 7th place.
