New Zealand superstar Hayden Wilde outran Belgian Jelle Geens and compatriot Kyle Smith to stand on the top step of the podium at the Ekoï French Riviera T100 Triathlon. The Kiwi raced to consecutive victories on the Estérel Côte d’Azur, having beaten Geens and Great Britain’s Sam Dickinson at last year’s event, and recording the fastest run split in the field this year to help him secure the double.
Ekoï athlete Geens sprinted past Smith in the final kilometre to clinch the silver medal and match his finish position from last year.
Smith, who last raced a T100 in Singapore where he finished 13th, claimed the bronze to round out the podium. He has experienced a number of ups and downs health-wise over the last year, following a broken collarbone at the end of 2025, to being diagnosed as coeliac and having gut issues this season – and then being hit by a bus after training yesterday.
The result means that Wilde extends his lead in the T100 Race To Qatar to 96 points, with Jake Birtwhistle (AUS) in second on 59 points and Lasse Priester (GER) in third on 49. Athletes select their best three finishes plus the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final.
Next up for the men is the Saudi Arabia T100 Triathlon on 27 November. Whilst the women return to action at the Dubai T100 on 14 September.
Key Quotes
Winner: Hayden Wilde (NZL)
On his performance:
“I think I was like fourth out of the turn of the swim, which was a really positive start and gives you momentum. And then coming out of the front group and made a decision to not put the socks on this time in transition. I didn’t want to waste too much time, as I knew it was gonna be a little bit congested coming out of T1. Then we got to work and there was a lot of guys up front, so quite congested through that first sector, and then it started splitting up a bit.”
“Kyle and Rico went off the front and I had to put in a big move. Unfortunately, my power meter wasn’t working all day, so I was riding blind. We finally caught them up, but I had to use a couple of poker chips on that one. On the run I just had to stay composed. Jelle, obviously, had a good gap on me at the start, and I just had to run my own pace and finally caught it up.
“It was really nice to see Kyle up there. He’s in great form, and we were having a conversation on the run and working together. I said: “I’ll pace you until a certain point, and then we’re not friends.” And then, yeah, went off and made my move and really stoked to take the win here. And the, yeah, body’s caught up really nice after last week. And, yeah, super stoked for Kyle and obviously Jelle for his second place.”
On camaraderie with Kyle Smith:
“Training together gave him the confidence to come back out and race. He’s had a rough few years, and to see him at the front and be confident, it’s fantastic. We’ve been hitting blows since we were, like, 10 years old. We’re from the same region in New Zealand, and we used to race each other in cross-country and, and track races, and then obviously switched to triathlon after the off-road stuff. So, it’s just really cool to see another Kiwi go do well and to back up a hard few years for himself. I’m proud of him.”
On racing such a strong T100 field:
“It’s fantastic. You know, we were all pushing each other to push this sport harder and faster. We were super fast on the bike there today, like a 46, 47 average today. And super quick today on the run. The first 10km I think I was running 3:03mins per km pace, to catch up. That’s like 64 mins half [marathon] pace.”
Second: Jelle Geens (BEL)
On today’s performance:
“I guess the distance suits me well. I’ve been second quite a few times and very often behind Hayden. I like to be here [in Saint Raphael]. It’s a fun race and I’m happy to get on the podium again.”
On his sprint for second place:
“With the one lap to go, I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna try one more time.” And heading into the last lap, I would start to accelerate, and I could see that Kyle became a bit bigger and bigger. I also heard time gaps, like I think it was thirty and then twenty, and then I timed myself at the U-turn was fifteen. My stomach was getting quite upset there running that quick. But I just knew I had to catch him and then just wait for the sprint, and that was my tactic.”
Third : Kyle Smith (NZL)
On battling through illness to achieve this podium:
“I’m super happy with that. To say four months ago, I was sort of in the hospital battling stomach issues and honestly, probably staring down the barrel of retirement because I just never thought I’d come back to this level. I lost all the belief that I’d ever come back. I was that unfit. But thanks to good friends and people around me who really supported me, mainly Hayden actually. He is one of my best mates, and Jan and Emma Frodeno, who were just my sort of life raft to get me through some tough times. And Jan just said, “What happens if you believe in yourself?” And apparently this.”
On relationship with Hayden Wilde:
“Me and Hayden, we’re a week apart in age. We’re both from the other side of the world, and we’ve grown up together and we’ve raced the circuit together. I feel like we’ve sort of gone on our paths, but I went up to Andorra because I thought that would be a good fit for me and my training. I started training with Hayden and we just got along like a house on fire and the training really worked as well. I think our personalities both really gel off each other, and I think we found a good recipe for what’s to come.”
On what this result means to him:
“Well, you have no idea how much this result means to me or what it means in my career. When you have two bad years, people start questioning your ability and like you’ve got mortgages to pay and a lot riding on results like this. So I finally can say that I’m back and it wasn’t the smoothest ride. I also got hit by a bus yesterday and came off and really hurt myself. So I spent four hours yesterday on the physio table just getting myself back right. And just before the race, having my neck, I woke up so sore this morning, feeling a bit like dizzy and whatever. But I just thought the proverbial screw it and I’m just going to send it and see what happens. I just backed myself, believed in myself because there was so much riding on the result today, and I just never wavered from that belief in myself today.
“I felt like I needed this result and nothing was gonna stop me, not even getting hit by a bus would stop me! There’s quite a beauty in being at rock bottom because there’s only one way to go and that’s up. So I’ve just been riding that momentum and riding that wave for the last three months. And honestly, in my career and personal life outside of my career, I was pretty rock bottom and now this feels like I’m almost back at the top.”
