What a Wilde ride HAYDEN'S SECRET WEAPON

The athlete’s about to take on the best, but our champ was born to tri!

- Catherine Milford

Becoming a professional sportsman was never part of Hayden Wilde's plan. The Olympic silver medallist is racing for gold this week at the World Triathlon Championship Series in Abu Dhabi, and is currently the world's number one male triathlete.

But if it wasn't for a teacher's advice at school when he was a teenager, his illustrious sporting career may never have happened.

"I was really close to my two older brothers we played rugby, cricket, football and hockey, and we'd always be play-fighting and getting into wrestling matches," recalls Hayden, 27, who grew up in the Bay of Plenty. “Running, biking and cycling weren’t really in the mix. My dad died when I was eight, so I grew up doing pretty much everything my brothers did.”

But at secondary school in Whakatāne, Hayden took up outdoor education, where he was introduced to orienteering, adventure racing and multisports, including long-distance running.

“My teacher, who was also my friend’s mum, told me I raced well and was pretty fast, and asked if I’d consider competing. I thought, ‘Why not?’ So I did a duathlon – a bike ride and a run, which went pretty well, and it just grew from there.”