Hayden Wilde wins a wild IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

New Zealand triathlon star Hayden Wilde once again showed his class in Nice today, winning the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship after a race featuring one of the deepest fields ever assembled in the event’s 20-year history. It was his first world title over the distance, having finished runner-up at the 2024 worlds in Taupō, New Zealand.

Wilde came out of the water in 22nd after the opening 1,900 metres, just 16 seconds behind the leader of the first group, which contained 27 athletes. That leader was American Seth Rider.

The New Zealander began picking off rivals in the opening kilometres on the bike, showing patience and determination on the climbs. He reached the summit of Col de Vence in seventh, just 37 seconds off the lead.

On the descent towards Nice, Wilde increased the pace and quickly bridged across to the five-man front group (see below). Posting the second-fastest bike split of the day, he entered T2 in second, just 11 seconds behind surprise leader Italy’s Michele Bortolamedi .

Wilde closed the gap quickly in the opening kilometres of the run and appeared to be managing his effort midway through the race. But defending champion Jelle Geens and Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt were running flat out, forcing Wilde to lift his pace again to hold off the two chasers.

The New Zealander ultimately kept enough in hand to win in 3:50:51, with 18 seconds to spare over Blummenfelt. Reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens took third.

It’s amazing to be able to put together a race like that. I was running down the Promenade and around the 15-kilometre mark my legs felt really good. I thought, “Yes, we’ve ticked that box since Taupō, now I just keep moving forward.” Then I got to 19 kilometres and really had to dig deep. There was still a 32-second gap, so I was doing the maths in my head. I thought I needed to hold around 3:10/km to win. Kristian would then have to run under 3:00/km to catch me. I told myself to keep going, get through this little rough patch and enjoy the downhill. I’m still barely taking it in, to be honest, but it feels really good to have pulled it off.

He ran the final leg without a watch on his wrist, making race management more difficult. “Coming out of T2, I had all my stuff in my hands and hit my watch. I think I sent it all the way to the marina, which was pretty frustrating. Looking back at the race, it wasn’t perfect for me. There were a few mistakes, but I’m really happy with how I managed the run,” he continued. “At five kilometres to go, I managed to hold on. The final two kilometres were really tough, but Kristian has a great saying: ‘It’s worse to lose.’ And yes, that’s definitely true. So managing to hold that gap is really special.”

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

Kristian Blummenfelt gave everything all the way to the finish, but came up just a few metres short of victory.

I think I lost the race on the bike descent. I couldn’t stay with Gustav Iden, Marten Van Riel or Nick Thompson. All three got away, and I thought I was going to lose even more time. I was two minutes down at the top and thought I might lose another two on the descent. But it was more positive when I heard it was only two minutes thirty. My legs felt good over the final part of the bike, so I thought I had a solid run in me and was pretty happy with my performance. But it’s obviously disappointing to lose a race like this on a descent against Hayden. Two and a half minutes at the start of the half marathon is a lot, even though I managed to make up that gap in Geelong six months ago. It was another epic battle, just a shame to be on the wrong side of it this time.

Blummenfelt nonetheless strengthened his case ahead of the upcoming IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. “There are four weeks left before the big one in Hawaii, so I just need to refocus. I think the others, like Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden , are already looking ahead after this race because they didn’t get the result they were hoping for.”

Reigning world champion Jelle Geens fought his way onto the podium after coming into T2 in 12th.

I think I had a good swim. I was close enough to the front and felt pretty comfortable. There was a lot of passing on the first part of the bike. But once we hit the climb, the pace was really high. I think I was missing a few watts at that point and reached the top with too big a gap. I managed that section poorly and couldn’t bridge across to Gustav’s group before T2. I wanted to race for the win and started the run at a very high pace before having to back off. Congratulations to Kristian and Hayden, their races were really impressive.

© Bartlomiej Zborowski / IRONMAN

Sixty of the world’s best male professional triathletes started at 7 a.m. this morning in the Mediterranean’s deep blue waters. A large front group formed quickly, with Germany’s Cedric Osterhold, Italy’s Michele Bortolamedi and Switzerland’s Ben Faeh setting a fast pace over the first 700 metres without dropping any of the pre-race favourites, including Belgium’s Marten Van Riel and Jelle Geens, Germany’s Rico Bogen, Norway’s Casper Stornes and Kristian Blummenfelt, and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, all well placed in the front group.

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

American Seth Rider accelerated in the final metres to exit the water first in 23:28, just two seconds ahead of Bortolamedi. England’s Sam Dickinson and South Africa’s Jamie Riddle rounded out the leading positions. The race was already incredibly close, with the first 27 triathletes leaving the water within just 22 seconds.

Bortolamedi was first onto the bike course, but it was Riddle, Australia’s Josh Ferris, and Germany’s Jonas Schomburg and Lasse Nygaard Priester who took control during the opening kilometres of the 90-kilometre course. As in the swim, the battle for position intensified as the climb approached. Stornes, Wilde and Geens were keeping a close eye on one another and all sat inside the top 10 as the field reached Col de Vence.

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

France’s Simon Viain posted the fastest climb up Col de Vence in 26:37, but it was Bortolamedi who reached the summit first. Once over the top, the triathletes began the descent towards Nice. This was where Wilde displayed the full extent of his bike-handling skills, quickly joining the five-man lead group. Iden also made the most of his descending ability, passing several riders ahead of him while Stornes and Rider stayed in contact.

As the leaders plunged towards Nice, Bortolamedi launched one final acceleration to enter T2 first, closely followed by Wilde, Bogen, Priester and Ferris. Iden recorded the fastest bike split of the day in 2:16:43, but still reached T2 54 seconds behind the leader.

All the leading contenders set off hard on the run. Wilde took the lead in the first kilometre before Priester caught him four kilometres later. Geens and Blummenfelt also started at a blistering pace, with the Belgian gaining nine places after 25 minutes while the Norwegian moved into fifth. By the 16-kilometre mark, both men had moved into the podium positions.

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / IRONMAN

© Bartlomiej Zborowski / IRONMAN

© Bartlomiej Zborowski / IRONMAN

As Blummenfelt and Geens quickly closed in, Wilde found a second wind over the final kilometres of the half marathon. He held off the Norwegian, who got to within 18 seconds of the New Zealander. Hayden Wilde thus became the first New Zealander since 2008 to win the IRONMAN 70.3 world title.

© Bartlomiej Zborowski / IRONMAN

The age-group race, which attracted 3,500 triathletes, was won by neutral athlete Evgeny Tikhonin in 4:15:24, ahead of Switzerland’s Geoffroy Bagnoud, and Germany’s Thorben Scholl.

The French amateurs produced a strong collective showing, placing seven athletes in the overall top 11;

Robin Lemercier finished fourth overall, and second in the 25-29 age group, just ahead of another Frenchman, Antoine Viertaix, fifth overall and runner-up in the 18-24 category.

Alexandre Caille, winner of the 2025 IRONMAN des Sables d’Olonne and the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 races in Tours and Vichy, finished seventh overall and second in the 30-34 category, ahead of Anatole Giraud-Telme, eighth, Brice Gayant, ninth, Victor Tourde, 10th, and Florian Richard, 11th.

Richard Sumpter finished third in the 45-49 age group.

Laurent Lambert won the 50-54 category, as did Christophe Bastié in the 55-59 age group.

Christian Masera and Jean-Luc Franchi finished second and third in the 65-69 age group, while Gilles Macherey was fourth in the 70-74 category.

Jean Marc Primault and Thierry Poynard finished second and third in the 75-79 age group, while Albert Dulac won the 80-84 category in 8:12:08.