Taylor Knibb Dominant In Dubai To Claim First Ever T100 Triathlon World Championship Crown

November 17, 2024

Dubai, UAE /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Taylor Knibb delivered a flawless swim, bike and run performance to win the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Championship Final and take the first-ever T100 Triathlon World Championship Title in dominant fashion, despite the sweltering heat in Dubai today.

Knibb has notched up four wins from four T100 starts in the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour and stamp her name in the record books, following victories in San Francisco, Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas and now Dubai, earning $310,000 in prize money along the way.

The American star wasn’t firing on all cylinders pre-race, but a monumental effort saw her stride to victory in Dubai. “I woke up and messaged my coach that I just feel rough, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a bad day,’” said Knibb.

“So, I was kind of shocked! It only came together in the last 3km when everyone else fell apart, but it was very step-by-step. That was brutal out there, so have fun men!” she added to the male competitors racing tomorrow.

Speaking about her support across the T100 series, Knibb said: “I think my dad was more nervous today than me… I was like, ‘Oh wow, you’re really nervous, like it’s kind of spreading…’ But I have a fantastic team of individuals and then I have a lot of sponsors and so it’s just a huge team effort and I’m very grateful for everyone who supports me and believes in me.”

Ashleigh Gentle went all-in for the win and pushed herself deep into the red, ending the day 2nd in the T100 Standings with her 3rd place in Dubai, earning $140,000.

“It’s still pretty fresh, but I went for the win and it was so painful!” said Gentle. “I gave it everything and got 3rd in the end but I’m proud of my effort… It is pretty brutal… when I wasn’t feeling too good and Derron just flew past me on the run, it was super soul-crushing, but I did what I could.”

“All the athletes that I’ve been racing this year have been motivating me and inspiring me in training. I feel like I’ve been applying myself more, better than I ever have, because the level of the women’s field is just getting better and better and just trying to keep up is pretty difficult.”

“Taylor has just been dominating and when you’re racing an athlete like that, it is sometimes really difficult to truly believe that you can beat them. But I had this little fire in my belly… I have no reason to believe that I can beat her, but I’m on the start line and that means I have got a chance, so I just had to believe that and I don’t know how I did…. I didn’t beat her but feel like I was a step closer today and did everything I could to try and get there.”

Julie Derron, who joined the T100 Triathlon World Tour in Ibiza came 2nd in Dubai to claim 3rd overall in the series with just 3 race results. The Olympic silver medallist earned $90,000 for her efforts.

“I’m super pleased with my swim today,” said Derron. “I had a perfect start getting onto Flora’s feet and I thought, ‘That’s incredible, I just need to stay here!’”

“On the bike, I rode with Ashleigh. I think the technical nature of the course really suited me. Then on the run, I seem to have lost my run legs a little bit since Ibiza. But I saw Ashleigh coming back to me on the last lap and thought, ‘Even if it’s second, I have to get another second place!’”

“I’m super pleased… this whole season, being part of it, coming in on the podium, it’s just been incredible, so much fun and, yeah, it makes me really happy to finish off like this!”

Kat Matthews’ 5th place finish meant 4th in the T100 standings and an extra $75,000 while Flora Duffy, 4th on the day, took the 5th spot in the standings, ensuring the offer of a T100 contract for 2025 by finishing in that all-important top-10.

“Taylor has been phenomenal this year and thoroughly deserves today’s race victory and T100 series triumph,” said PTO CEO Sam Renouf. “It has always been our ambition to get the best athletes racing each other more consistently across the season and I think, as a result, fans have been treated to some spectacular racing. We also wanted to crown our first T100 Triathlon World Champions in a spectacular race at an iconic location and just looking at Taylor coming across the line with the Dubai skyline in the background, I think we achieved that.”

How The Race Unfolded

In steamy waters off Dubai’s Sunrise Beach, the 2km swim set the stage for a classic final act to the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour. While series leader Taylor Knibb was present and correct near the head of affairs in the water, Ashleigh Gentle and Julie Derron also held firm in the top 7 to dent Knibb’s chance of an easy escape on two wheels.

After losing a few spots in the swim-to-bike transition, Knibb got to work hunting down the early leaders to take pole position. With a technical course and soaring temperatures, we didn’t see the typical dominance from the American on the bike. With Gentle and Derron working together and chasing hard behind, by 65km into the 80km course, Knibb’s lead was just 1:37. Meanwhile, Imogen Simmonds managed to stay in 4th place with Gentle and Derron despite a 30-second littering penalty.

Towards the end of the bike, the momentum edged into Knibb’s favour as she put the hammer down to take more time out of the chasers, coming into T2 with a lead of 2:46 to Gentle, Derron and Simmonds – a figure that was Knibb’s slimmest advantage at a T100 Triathlon race this year. Meanwhile, Lucy Byram was 5th off the bike along with Miami T100 Triathlon winner, India Lee – both over 4 minutes behind.

Derron flew through transition – opting to forego socks and steal a march on Gentle, but the Aussie star overtook less than 1.5km into the 18km run with a decisive surge. By 6km, Gentle had brought her deficit time down to 1:35 and down to just over 1 minute by half way, the Australian looking on track to take the lead before the finish.

Behind the bid for victory, Imogen Simmonds held strong in 4th place behind Derron, pushing above 90% maximum heart rate to try and keep herself in series podium contention. But perhaps the effort was too much for the Swiss athlete as Flora Duffy’s swift running pace, bested only by Gentle’s, saw the 2020 Olympic Champion move up the order from 10th place off the bike and past Simmonds as the race wore on. Kat Matthews and Lucy Byram were also both running strongly in the second half of the run. They too, overtook Simmonds to sit in 5th and 6th place.

Back at the front, just as Gentle got her first glimpse of Knibb at around 5km to go, the Aussie’s relentless pursuit seemed to stall, the gap holding around 50 seconds before starting to edge back out to 1 minute and beyond. Before long, Gentle was reduced to a walk, holding her stomach and doggedly trying to run on, her usually perfect form and pace crumbling.

That ensured a clear runway for Taylor Knibb to close out the run and take victory in the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final and claim the first-ever T100 Triathlon World Championship title, earning an extra $210,000 for the series win.

With Gentle struggling, Julie Derron surged past to take another 2nd place finish to Knibb – her 3rd this year – and move up to 3rd in the T100 Standings, netting an extra $90,000.

Gentle’s courageous 3rd place finish secured 2nd in the T100 Standings and $140,000.

Duffy’s 4th place earned her 5th in the T100 Standings and an extra $60,000 while Kat Matthews rounded out the top-5 for 4th in the T100 Standings, earning her $75,000.

Remaining places:

6th – Lucy Byram
7th – Laura Philipp
8th – Taylor Spivey
9th – Imogen Simmonds
10th – Anne Haug
11th – Paula Findlay
12th – India Lee
13th – Kaidi Kivioja
14th – Laura Madsen
15th – Marlene De Boer
16th – Sara Perez Sala
17th – Kate Curran
18th – Marjolaine Pierre
19th – Diede Diederiks
DNF – Tamara Jewett

T100 Triathlon World Tour series prize money breakdown

With the first-ever T100 Triathlon World Champion now crowned, Taylor Knibb secures $210,000 from the $2m prize pot. Along with her four victories along the way to that historic World Champion title, the American star takes away $310,000 in prize money from the series, plus her contractual payments.

The breakdown of the $2m prize money for the final T100 Triathlon World Tour standings is as follows:

1st – $210,000
2nd – $140,000
3rd – $90,000
4th – $75,000
5th – $60,000
6th – $55,000
7th – $50,000
8th – $45,000
9th – $40,000
10th – $35,000
11th – $30,000
12th – $26,000
13th – $24,000
14th – $22,000
15th – $20,000
16th – $18,000
17th – $15,000
18th – $15,000
19th – $15,000
20th – $15,000

Who’s Secured Contracts for 2025?

As well as the first T100 crown, there were also vital T100 contracts on offer in Dubai today, with the top 10 women all guaranteed an offer to stamp their ticket for the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour series which has already announced seven of its destinations.

Along with Taylor Knibb, Ashleigh Gentle, Julie Derron, Kat Matthews, Flora Duffy, Lucy Byram, Laura Philipp, India Lee, Imogen Simmonds and Paula Findlay all finished in the top 10 overall.

Outside the top 10 from this year’s T100 standings, the next 6 contracted athletes for 2025 will be decided through analysis of PTO World Rankings and those who’ve shone with standout performances in the 2024 season. The final 4 contracts will go to Hotshot athletes – those with the x-factor to shake up the racing regardless of their PTO World Ranking position or recent long-distance triathlon performances. That could be a former all-star coming back from injury or an Olympian making the move to long-distance racing.

Who will be the men’s T100 World Champion?

Series leader Marten Van Riel goes in the men’s T100 Triathlon World Championship Final when the broadcast begins at 1315 local time tomorrow [Sunday 17 November], with the athletes starting at 1330. It will be shown live locally on beIN Sports across the Middle East as well as North Africa and the US. In Europe it will be live and exclusive on Eurosport. Fans around the world will also be able to watch for free on PTO+ as well as locally and regionally through a range of other deals that will see the final broadcast in 195+ territories.

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Notes To Editors:

A reminder of how the T100 Triathlon World Tour works:

• Athletes score 35 points for first place to 1 pt for 20th place at each race
• The Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final has increased points to up the ante (55 pts down to 4 pts)
• Each athlete’s best three T100 race scores plus the Final will count towards the inaugural women’s and men’s T100 World Champions
• $250,000 USD prize fund at each T100, totalling $1,750,000 across the seven races (1st place – $25,000k; 2nd – $16,000; 3rd – $12,000 at each race)
• The series winners following the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will be crowned T100 Triathlon World Champion and collect $210,000 USD from an additional total prize pool of $2,000,000
• Between the athlete contracts, T100 race prize fund and T100 Triathlon World Tour pool, the series provides more than $7,000,000 in athlete compensation, and is distributed in a way that not only rewards the winners, but also recognises the significant achievement of racing at this level

For Further Information:

Anthony Scammell E: Anthony.Scammell@protriathletes.org

About Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO)

The PTO is a sports body that is co-owned by its professional athletes, seeking to elevate and grow the sport of triathlon and take it to the next level. The T100 Triathlon World Tour is the new name for the PTO Tour and has been designated by World Triathlon as the ‘official World Championship for long distance triathlon’. It is a season-long schedule of T100 races during 2024 that are competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run) and features the world’s best triathletes going head-to-head in Miami (9 March), Singapore (13-14 April), San Francisco (8-9 June), London (27-28 July), Ibiza (28-29 September), Lake Las Vegas (19-20 October) and then the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final (16-17 November). There have also been racing opportunities for amateurs at all the events, including the new 100km distance at five stages, including: Singapore, London, Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas and Dubai. The global broadcast shows the races live around the world in 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as well as a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters.