We Noticed: Crash for Olympic Silver Medalist, Racing Down Under and in Italy
Hayden Wilde competes at the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
The day after he blasted to what might be the fastest 10 km ever run by a triathlete at a race in Japan, Hayden Wilde was involved in a bike accident that has left the remainder of his season up in the air.
The Tokyo Speed Race was designed to celebrate the launch of Asics’ new Metaspeed Ray, and saw 10 national records fall as athletes from around the world competed at 5 and 10 km races. Wilde was looking to try and break the New Zealand national 10 km record of 27:28 and came remarkably close, crossing the line in 27:39 for seventh. The race was won by Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer in a time of 27:10.
The next day Wilde was involved in bike crash, and updated his fans via his Instagram account.
“Broken 4 ribs. Scapular broken. Injured lungs. Surrounded with the best help. Keep you posted. Pretty gutted after such a nice day yesterday.”
In the post the silver (2024) and bronze (2021) Olympic medalist also said that because of the injuries to his lungs he wouldn’t be able to travel from Japan for two to three weeks.
“I’ll be in Japan for a few weeks on the mend … due to lungs it’s not possible to travel,” he wrote.
While Wilde wasn’t planning on doing much draft-legal racing in 2025 as he pursued the T100 Triathlon World Tour, he did win WTCS Abu Dhabi earlier this year before taking T100 Singapore. Wilde’s impressive run on the weekend came less than a week after his rival Alex Yee ran a 2:11 marathon in London.
Our thoughts are certainly with Hayden and we hope for a quick recovery.
Bitados and Lovseth Take 70.3 Venice-Jesolo
Solveig Lovseth wins IRONMAN 70.3 Venice Jesolo. Photo by Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images for IRONMAN
Germany’s Lena Meissner led out of the water and through much of the bike through the Italian countryside at IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo, but Norway’s Solveig Lovseth moved to the front during the final third of the bike and never looked back as she continued to pull away for the win, earning some valuable IRONMAN Pro Series points along the way.
“My swim was alright I guess, not my strongest discipline. On the bike, I knew that Lena [Meißner] was in front and tried to chase her for the first 60 kilometers, and then tried to just stay even all the way to transition,” the Norwegian said after the race. “On the run, I didn’t get many splits, so you’re always afraid that someone is coming from behind, so I just tried to keep my pace high on the run… my main goal was to not blow off or I will destroy everything, so I tried to be a little more conservative and just enjoy as well, and it was I quite easy to enjoy it with so many spectators around, so yes a really great day.”
Meissner would hang on for second, with France’s Emilie Morier rounding out the podium.
Panagiotis Bitados takes the men’s title. Photo: Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images for IRONMAN
Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) was second out of the water behind Germany’s Janik Schaufler, with yet another German pre-race favourite, Jonas Schomburg also in the mix. It was 2023 70.3 world champion Rico Bogen blasted through the bike, though, to lead the way into T2 by a whopping three and a half minutes over a chase pack of 11. Bitados would blast through the run course to take the lead by the halfway point of the run and would hold on for the win by just six seconds over Great Britain’s Cameron Main, with Denmark’s Emil Holm rounding out the podium.
“That’s my first [IRONMAN] 70.3 for this year, and I am really happy to win… I had a bad, slow, transition, but then I found my rhythm on the run and then I catch Cameron [Main] and Emil [Holm]… and I ran to just finish second, but then I understood I was so close to Rico, so I said; ‘ok, let’s go to win,’” Bitados said after the race.
Top Five Male Professional Results – IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo
| Place | Name (Country) | Swim | Bike | Run | Total Time | Pro Series Points (unofficial) | Event Prize Money |
| 1 | Panagiotis Bitados | 21:21 | 1:57:53 | 1:07:59 | 3:31:01 | 2,500 | $7,500 |
| 2 | Cameron Main | 21:46 | 1:57:38 | 1:08:25 | 3:31:07 | 2,494 | $5,000 |
| 3 | Emil Holm | 21:47 | 1:57:32 | 1:09:58 | 3:32:47 | 2,394 | $3,750 |
| 4 | Sam Dickinson | 21:39 | 1:57:51 | 1:10:06 | 3:33:03 | 2,378 | $3,000 |
| 5 | Jonas Schomburg | 21:21 | 1:58:03 | 1:10:24 | 03:33:27 | 2,354 | $2,000 |
Top Five Female Professional Results – IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo
| Place | Name (Country) | Swim | Bike | Run | Total Time | Pro Series Points (unofficial) | Event Prize Money |
| 1 | Solveig Løvseth (NOR) | 25:46 | 2:06:59 | 1:16:28 | 3:53:22 | 2,500 | $7,500 |
| 2 | Lena Meißner (DEU) | 23:33 | 2:11:40 | 1:20:27 | 3:59:42 | 2,120 | $5,000 |
| 3 | Emilie Morier (FRA) | 25:18 | 2:12:22 | 1:19:48 | 4:01:38 | 2,004 | $3,750 |
| 4 | Danielle Kleiser (DEU) | 31:29 | 2:12:52 | 1:15:16 | 4:03:57 | 1,865 | $3,000 |
| 5 | Anne Reischmann (DEU) | 27:22 | 2:11:02 | 1:22:144 | 4:04:29 | 1,833 | $2,000 |
Van Coevorden and Goesch tops in Port Macquarie
Photo: Korupt Vision
We said she was likely to highlight the women’s field, and even though the swim was cancelled due to poor water quality, Australian Olympian Natalie Van Coevorden added another long-distance win for the year at IRONMAN 70.3 Port Macquarie.
The pros drew for their start positions, then left in 15-second intervals for the 90 km/ 56 mile bike, which was followed by the 21.1 km/ 13.1 mile run. Van Coevorden had the fastest splits from start to finish, finishing almost four minutes ahead of Kiwi Amelia Watkinson, with Aussie Sky Wallace taking third.
“I’m pretty excited to be honest, it’s three from three for this year for me, which is pretty awesome after making the transition across from short course to IRONMAN 70.3,” Van Coevorden said after the race. “It was a bit of a different start to the morning, not really know what was going on, but I think I made the most of today and had a really good performance. I’m a bit of a strong swimmer so I didn’t know what to expect, but I think I outdid myself on the bike and really showed myself that I am in good shape and I pretty much led from start to finish today which is all I can ask for.”
“I lost a lot of confidence in myself last year, I might have gone to the Olympics but it was probably one of the worst years of my whole career so to come out and have three big wins this year is pretty special,” she continued.
Photo: Korupt Vision
Finland’s Henrik Goesch topped the men’s field, winning his first 70.3 by just under a minute over New Zealand’s Sam Osborne, with Aussie Caleb Noble finishing third.
“We woke up to a different race morning than planned, but you just go with the flow, we still had a race which was the main thing,” Goesch said after the race. “We had the time trial start so I didn’t really know where I was at all which made it hard, so you just had to push right until the finish line. I got a bit of an idea at the turnarounds, got a couple of splits, but you still can’t quite trust it always, it was maybe 40 seconds in the end so not all that much.”
IRONMAN 70.3 Port Macquarie – Professional Women’s Results
- Natalie Van Coevorden – 3:45:55
- Amelia Watkinson – 3:49:32
- Sky Wallace – 3:51:41
- Kylie Simpson – 3:52:37
- Samantha Kingsford – 3:54:52
- Charlotte McShane – 3:54:52
- Jasmine Brown – 3:56:37
- Chloe Hartnett – 3:58:18
- Paige Cranage – 4:00:35
- Hannah Knighton – 4:03:33
IRONMAN 70.3 Port Macquarie – Professional Men’s Results
- Henrik Goesch – 3:19:27
- Sam Osborne – 3:20:20
- Caleb Noble – 3:21:03
- Kurt McDonald – 3:23:25
- Mitch Kibby – 3:23:38
- Josh Ferris – 3:24:22
- Jack Sosinski – 3:24:24
- Josh Amberger – 3:24:43
- Roland Crantock – 3:25:41
- Thomas Page – 3:26:19
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