Kiwi triathlon hero Hayden Wilde has seen his team's Olympic medal hopes dashed, after crashing on the bike phase of his mixed relay leg at Paris.
Racing first for New Zealand, the individual men's silver medallist was one of the last out of the water in his swim leg, but made up lost ground to catch the leaders midway through the cycle around the streets of the French capital.
Disaster struck, as the field completed a hairpin turn, with Wilde and French rival Piere le Corre both coming down. Their collision put them at the back of the race and the Kiwis never recovered, finishing 14th, almost five minutes behind winners Germany.
Running last, women's individual champion Cassandre Beaugrand chased valiantly for the French, bringing them home fourth.
New Zealand were considered among the medal favourites, after finishing second at the world championships last year and third this year.
After Wilde's faux pas, teammates Nicole van der Kaay, Dylan McCullough and Ainsley Thorpe were competing purely for pride.
"A bit of bad luck out there unfortunately," Thorpe told Sky Sport. "Sometimes that happens in the MTR [mixed team relay], when you've got four athletes in each team and stuff can go wrong.
"I didn't see it, I was warming up, but he came out of T2 so far behind and so did France, so I knew something had happened. It's not like Hayden... that first leg is very important to be up there in the game."
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