Despite finishing 14th at the world championships, Kiwi triathlete Hayden Wilde has placed fifth overall in the world series.
After the highest end-of-year finish of his career so far, the Tokyo bronze medallist hopes to prove that there's plenty more Olympic medals and results like this to come.
In a race where teammate Tayler Reid finished seventh, Wilde needed a good swim, if he was going to contend at Edmonton, but it didn't come, exiting the water more than a minute behind the leaders, although battle scars later revealed it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Despite that, 2021 has been a season to remember for Wilde.
"This year has been a fantastic year," he says.
Wilde has announced himself to the world, with fifth at Leeds, sixth in Montreal and, of course, a podium finish at Tokyo, but those results bring bigger expectations.
"I'll start feeling disappointed, if I'm outside the top five in most events now," he says. "For me, the expectation is you've established as one of the best in the field."
And with that, one of Wilde's biggest goals going forward is proving that his performance this season - particularly his bronze medal - wasn't a one-off.
"For myself, I want to show people that this race wasn't a fluke," he says.
The 23-year-old will now head to Europe to take part in the Super League events, hoping to build on a successful season.
"I want to show people that I’m very consistent over races and hope to keep that up for the years to come."
And if 2021 is anything to go by, he's well on his way to doing so.
