New Zealand Triathletes Make History By Dominating The Podium In World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth

Incredible sights and sporting achievements were witnessed today on Ngamotu Beach, New Plymouth at the Tri Taranaki Festival in the World Triathlon Cup with the highlight being Olympic Bronze Medallist Hayden Wilde and his fellow Tokyo Olympian Nicole van der Kaay taking the win against a stacked field.

With Olympic qualification underway for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the start list for the first World Cup of the season featured some of the biggest names in sprint distance triathlon, representing 42 nations.

In the women’s race, Olympian Nicole Van der Kaay executed the perfect race to come away with the gold medal, in a remarkable field of athletes that included the likes of 2016 Olympic gold medallist Gwen Jorgensen. The New Zealand Olympian displayed a powerful swim, bike and run combination to take the tape, after an outstanding start to the year with gold medals at 2023 Oceania Cup races. “This race is super special for me. This was actually my first World Cup podium four or five years ago and I haven’t had a World Cup podium since. So, to get the Gold has made it super special,” commented van der Kaay.

“I knew it would be a hard race and I love hard races. So I pushed it out the front a bit, so everyone could hurt a bit, [laughs] so it was a solid race, a kiwi race!”

Today marked an encouraging win for Van der Kaay as she continues her Olympic campaign toward the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Fellow compatriot Ainsley Thorpe showcased outstanding form to keep up with Van der Kaay across all portions of the sprint-distance race, to earn a silver medal on the world stage. Norway’s Solveig Løvseth claimed the best result of her career with a bronze in Taranaki.

In the men’s race Olympic bronze medallist, Hayden Wilde owned the course to come away with the win, in front of a roaring home crowd. Wilde produced the winning formula as he showed his class and ability, particularly on the bike and run legs, over a hilly and challenging triathlon course.

“I feel on top of the world. It was just lovely to do it in front of friends and family. The family has ripped it out of me that I won an Olympic medal but never a World Series or World Cup medal. So, it is nice to tick all four boxes on all four tiers. I did it completely the opposite way, but great to do it on home soil. It was fantastic out there,” said a thrilled Wilde.

Wilde’s gold medal represents the first time that a New Zealand male has stepped onto the top step at the World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth since 2009, when Bevan Docherty won here. In a sensational sprint to the line, it was New Zealand’s Tayler Reid who took home silver by a fraction in front of family and friends and Portugal’s Ricardo Batista earned bronze.

The 2023 World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth is comprised of a hilly course in Taranaki, starting from Ngamotu Beach - with a 750m ocean swim (1 lap), 20km bike (4 laps) and 5km run (3 laps).

Alongside the World Cup, the Tri Taranaki Festival hosted a plethora of racing for all ages and abilities. The NZ National Sprint Championships saw athletes from all over the country line up for Age Group racing with a challenging swim and a wet bike and run course. First female across the line was Amara Rae, “The course is a technical one, so with the rain and wind it made it tricky,” commented Amara. “It keeps it interesting, and I am from Palmy and we have lots of hills, lots wind and rain so it felt a little bit like home.”

Amara broke away on the bike and used the climbs to her advantage. “I try to not have expectations going into a race as you can’t plan for that. And you should just react to what is happening around you. I always hope to make time up on the hills, I like climbing.”

Amara was followed by a strong performance from Georgia Waghorn and Sophie Shallard. A thrilled Georgia said, “The swim was very hard, very wavy, but the bike was quite good and I made up time. And just tried to hold onto it for the run!”

In the men’s Sprint National Champs, William Taylor won by over a minute, “Really happy as it was a tough course,’ commented William. “It’s been a hard season racing all those top boys. So, it is good to come away with a win and have confidence going into the winter.”

Kieran Coates came across the line hotly followed by Christian Davey. “With amount of people on the course and how slippery it is you had to time your corners well. It made it quite interesting on the bike that’s for sure!’ commented Kieran.

The Youth sprint racing saw Sam McHale from Tri Hawes Bay take the win in 36 minutes, with Luca Dohunt and Daniel Mumby in silver and bronze. “The racing was awesome,” said McHale. “Tough out there but epic to take the win.”

Hayley Cornwall won the female youth category by a convincing two mins, to her sister Tayler Cornwall. “It was a hard swim and tough race but fun,” said Hayley. Alahna Singleton rounded off the podium in third.

The TSSSA field was super strong this year with a very vocal and passionate contingent from Francis Douglas Memorial College. Daniel Callebaut came out on top closely shadowed by Jack Mason and Fletcher Williams. In the women’s filed Maddison Sturgeon topped the podium with Lucy Howarth and Sarah Johnson joining her.

Tri-er field, a firm fan favourite had some hardy competitors involved for the first time with Matthias Pa’a winning the men’s race and Annemaire Wiedow winning the women’s. Father and son team Zac and Trevor Leitch summed the race up well, “I’m glad we did it. We used this race to give us a baseline for next time, so I think I will do it again. We are glad we competed.”

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