Growing up in Whakatane, New Zealand, Hayden has always had a love for the outdoors, for exploring and being active. His childhood consisted of not only swimming, cycling and running, but adventuring, kayaking and multiple other pursuits. He suffered a terrible loss as a young man when his father passed away in tragic circumstances, but Hayden’s focus didn’t wane, and he made a push for greatness.

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Hayden was already earning a reputation for himself on the triathlon scene in New Zealand as a teenager for his incredible performances and broke through dramatically as he won the 2-day Coast to Coast event with a dominating performance as a 16-year-old. He then followed that up by showing his strength in swim-bike-run by grabbing two Xterra Under-19 World titles and the ITU Cross Tri World Championships at Under-23 level.

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It was all of this that made Super League invite Hayden to compete, and it was the start of a switch to regular triathlon fuelled by a desire to compete at the Olympics. Hayden’s Super League impact proved his ability as he secured top ten finishes in all four Championship Series events in 2018/19, and followed that up with two third places in 2019. Though swimming was his weaker discipline, his aggressive bike strength – that has also caused him a few crashes – and a strong run always meant he was a force to be reckoned with.

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Having proven to himself that he could race against the very best in the world, Hayden began to grow in strength on the WTS circuit with a bronze medal at the 2019 Tokyo Test Event. During a lockdown spent in New Zealand, Hayden also attempted to qualify to run the 5,000m on the track at the Tokyo Olympics. Though he met the qualification criteria he was not picked. However, he starred in the triathlon, producing a superb performance to collect a bronze medal.

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He followed that up with a first ever Super League Triathlon victory in the opening race of the 2021 Championship Series in London. Fourth, third and fourth place finishes in Munich, Jersey and Malibu respectively saw him finish second in the overall standings.