Hayden Wilde celebrated his latest win in the Super League Triathlon in style with help from the crowd as he crossed the finish line with an inflatable shark overhead.
Wilde claimed his third SLT win in four starts this morning with another dominant performance in Toulouse.
Tactical prowess and clean transitions saw Wilde win the men's triple mix event by nine seconds over Frenchman Dorian Coninx. Japan's Kenji Nener was third.
The triple mix sees the traditional swim-bike-run sequence thrown out and the event shuffle the disciplines over three sprint stages with short breaks in between.
After a tight opening two stages, Wilde turned on the afterburners to leave the field in his wake for the final sequence which involved a 4km bike, 300m swim and 2km run.
"It was super close out there today, which made for some good racing," Wilde said.
"I had some good swims today and waited for the last round to put my head down and go for it on the bike. That gave me a good buffer and it was great to run away with it."
Wilde's dominance in the league saw him push to 58 points in the championship leader board after four events - a whopping 17 points clear of Australia's Matthew Hauser heading into the final leg at Neom in Saudi Arabia.
Had Hauser not had a late surge in his run to finish fourth ahead of fellow Kiwi Tayler Reid, Wilde could have sealed the championship today.
Instead, he had to substitute the silverware for an inflatable shark which was waiting for him near the finish line - a nod to the fact he runs for the championship-leading Sharks in the team competition - which added to a particular area he was happy with on the day.
"I finally had a good swim today," Wilde added.
"We started the second stage and everything was super close and I was like, do I just sit in and wait and wait till the last round [stage] and that’s what I did. I got into the water first.
"Going into that last round I just thought I needed to put my head down and go for it on the bike and I got a really good buffer. Still swam fairly well, I think they put maybe 15 seconds on me, but I had a good buffer and yeah, it was good enough to run away with it."
With 20 points on offer in Neom on October 29, Only Hauser and Reid, who is third in the overall standings, are a mathematical chance of denying the Kiwi although he will need something drastic like a disqualification to deny him.
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