Each man standing upon the start line at the Napier World Cup more or less found himself in the same position. To a man, they were reaching for something in the distance, so close they can almost taste it, with that something being Olympic glory in the summer.
Of the field, Hayden Wilde has the most obvious path to gold in Paris and at the Napier World Cup today, his book began.
He won his home World Cup in New Zealand last season, but when Wilde arrived in Napier in search of a repeat victory, he came up against a rival from across the Tasman Sea in inspired form.
The race came down to the 5km run as Wilde blasted the fastest run of the field. Up ahead, though, Callum McClusky of Australia had more than enough speed of his own and held on for the win.
From the off, the first World Cup of the year was thrown into disarray as the waves changed the complexion of the race. Alessio Crociani, the winner of the recent Oceania Cup in Wanaka, led out the swim. The Italian athlete was the only man to swim under 9 minutes for the 750m (8:59).
Crociani was joined by Dylan McCullough, his sparring partner in Wanaka, and they earned almost 10 seconds over the next men out (Tayler Reid and Brandon Copeland). Further back, McClusky lost time and emerged in 9:22. After dropping several fast run splits last season, including at the World Cups in New Plymouth and Yeongdo, he could nonetheless be confident of recovering.
However Wilde struggled in the water. He clocked 9:45 and was one of the last men to emerge.
Meanwhile, Crociani and McCullough tore into the course, trying to build a lead in a repetition of Wanaka. This time, though, the chase pack was too strong. The Italian athlete was the first to let the chase group swallow him up. Soon after, McCullough also accepted his fate.
A front pack of twenty-one men therefore rode around the 20km. McClusky made it into the lead pack, as did athletes like Ben Dijkstra, Ricardo Batista, Shachar Sagiv and Alberto Gonzalez Garcia.
Wilde was stuck in the second chase pack and at the end of the first bike lap sat 40 seconds behind. On the third bike lap, the two chase packs merged and Wilde subsequently faced a deficit of 27 seconds into T2. Heading onto the run, though, he had it all to do.
Dijkstra hit the front straight away in the run and McClusky led the chasers. They promptly closed down the Brit, with McCullough, Gonzalez, Sagiv, Copeland, Crociani among the threats on McCluksy’s heels.
On the second run lap McClusky moved clear and earned a decisive lead. Yet while he had the upper hand over his fellow leaders, the threat from behind was closing.
Wilde was in full flight and had whittled away 8 seconds. And he was still gaining.
As he tried to round the markers ahead, Wilde went wide and risked stepping onto the wrong side of the path. He moved into 5th on the road, passing Gonzalez. At the same moment, McClusky seemed to falter a little as his efforts caught up with him.
Moments later, Wilde was into 2nd and could see the Australian ahead. The gap dwindled further but McClusky held firm. They made it to the blue carpet in quick succession but no one could deny the Australian athlete.
Wilde split 13:52 on the 5km to McClusky’s 14:11 but it was the Australian that took the win. In the space of a single race, he may have planted himself in the discussions around joining Matthew Hauser on the Australian Olympic team. If his Napier form is anything to go by, a big year could be in store.
On the blue carpet, Gonzalez came flying back to almost stun Wilde. The Spanish athlete ultimately settled for 3rd place. Sagiv and McCullough then rounded out the top-5.
For Wilde, he may have to head back to the drawing board after a concerning swim but the day belonged to McClusky. He, like his compatriot Sophie Linn, leaves New Zealand with a first World Cup win. What comes next, though, for McClusky, Wilde and many more, is still unwritten.
You can view the full results here.
