San Francisco, USA: Swiss Olympic star Julie Derron claimed her first T100 Triathlon World Tour victory in San Francisco over the legendary Escape From Alcatraz course. 

Derron took the tape ahead of American Taylor Knibb, who had been previously unbeaten in all her T100 races last year. Singapore T100 winner Great Britain’s Kate Waugh was third. 

Key Quotes: 

Julie Derron: 

“I’m super excited to get the top step today.  I really tried to focus on myself and my own race and just do the best I could out there but honestly it was really motivating not to loose that much time to [Taylor] on the bike. I really backed myself that I could reel her in on the run and put a dent into her performance. I was running scared all the way, you can never be sure as it’s a long race and a lot can happen. I was always worried I would blow up but I knew I had to keep going since she was right behind me. Obviously I saw how the gap was developing but you still have to just stay in it. Only when I got to the carpet did I tell myself, you’ve got this now, enjoy it.”

On training in China she said: “The athletes and facilities are really good and there’s a lot of support there. It’s a good place to train for triathlons.”

Second placed Taylor Knibb: 

“I’m actually pretty happy with the execution, I feel like I’m just missing a few gears but it’s early season and I’m grateful to be here and racing. I’ll take it. I have a lot of work to do and that shows, but I’m thrilled for Julie and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Third placed Kate Waugh: 

“It was a bit of a roller coaster of a day. I was struggling out there on the bike and I was actually slightly worried coming on to the run how I would feel. But luckily my run legs turned up and I just put myself to work and tried to get myself onto the podium and get a good result. So, yeah, I’m really proud to do that.”

Race In A Nutshell

Switzerland’s Julie Derron, Olympic Silver medallist from Paris, proved that 2024 T100 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA) was beatable. After coming out of San Francisco Bay in the front group, Derron kept Knibb’s lead on the bike to within striking distance then powered home on the run to topple Knibb’s 4-from-4 winning streak. The Swiss star crossed the line in 3:38:46, 2:05 clear of Knibb, while Singapore T100 winner Kate Waugh (GBR) rounded out the podium 4:14 behind.

How The Race Unfolded 

In the women’s race, the sun kissed waters of San Francisco Bay became the playground for star swimmers Jess Learmonth (GBR) and Vittoria Lopes (BRA) with Singapore T100 winner Kate Waugh (GBR) just behind. Like the men’s race, the 2km swim was assisted by the current – Lopes leapt from the water after just 16:17, heading a group of 8 also including favourites Julie Derron (SWI) and Taylor Knibb (USA).

Returning to racing after becoming a mother, Holly Lawrence (GBR) was the early leader on the hilly 80km bike course, a position soon taken by fellow mum Learmonth with Waugh and Derron in close order.

As expected, Knibb was soon picking off her competitors, moving up the field with apparent ease to take the lead within the first lap. However, it wasn’t the usual rocket-launch escape from the rest with Knibb gaining seconds rather than minutes.

By the half-way mark, Knibb’s lead was just 49 seconds to Learmonth and Derron – less than half the time gap she enjoyed by this point in 2024 – with Waugh 1:35 behind the American.

With 20km to go, Knibb had edged her lead to Derron and Learmonth up to 1:02 with Waugh at 2:46 and Paula Findlay (CAN) now leading the chasers in 5th place. Knibb added just 12 seconds to her lead over the next 15km, 1:14 to her chasers with Waugh at 3:30 and Findlay at 5:00.

After Knibb racked her bike with 1:05 in hand, Derron put her Olympic-silver running pedigree to the fore, immediately beginning to chomp away at Knibb’s lead. Slashing her deficit to 29 seconds within 2km, the pass seemed inevitable and Derron made it look easy, giving Knibb no quarter she took pole position by 3km. By 6km, Derron was 30 seconds ahead while Waugh caught and dropped compatriot Learmonth, now 3:42 behind the leader.

At the half way point, Derron’s lead was 1:05, showing that Knibb remained strong, the American still 3 minutes clear of Waugh who was now 1:20 ahead of Learmonth. With 5km remaining, Derron had a comfortable buffer of 1:30 and Waugh at 4:30, while Findlay moved past Learmonth into 4th.

The day was all Derron’s though, the Swiss star powering on to claim her first T100 title in 3:38:46. In doing so, she ended Taylor Knibb’s unbeaten streak, the US athlete settling for 2nd, 2:05 behind while Kate Waugh added a 3rd place to her Singapore T100 win, 4:14 behind.

Findlay claimed 4th – equalling her best T100 performance – while Lawrence rounded out the top-5 in her first race post-partum.

The San Francisco T100 Triathlon is a collaboration between the Professional Triathletes Organisation and IMG, who own and run the legendary Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, which has been a bucket-list event for more than 40 years and seen the best professionals and amateurs try the impossible – to escape from Alcatraz Island. 2,000 more amateurs will attempt to do just that on Sunday 1 June starting at 7am, following the San Francisco T100 men’s and women’s professional races the day before (Saturday 31 May). An accompanying fitness festival will open on Sunday from 7am until 2.30pm. Further details here.

Notes To Editors

How the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour works:

• Athletes score 35 points for first place to 1 pt for 20th place at each of the nine races, with increased points for 2nd (up from 28 to 29 points); 3rd (up from 25 to 26); and 4th (up from 22 to 23), to encourage more competitive racing
• The Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final has increased points to up the ante (55 pts down to 4 pts) as well as a similar upweight of points from 2nd (now 46 points from 45) to 13th position.
• Each athlete’s best four T100 race scores plus the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will count towards the women’s and men’s T100 World Championship titles
• $250,000 USD prize fund at each T100, totalling $2,250,000 across the nine races (1st place – $25,000k; 2nd – $17,000; 3rd – $13,000 at each race)
• The series winners following the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will be crowned T100 Triathlon World Champion and collect $200,000 USD from an additional total prize pool of $2,940,000
• The T100 Contenders Rankings will pay 1st to 40th place from a total prize pool of $560,000 (1st place – $16,000; 2nd place – $15,000; 3rd place – $14,000 down to 40th place – $3,000)
• Between the athlete contracts, T100 race prize fund, T100 Triathlon World Tour pool and the T100 Contenders Rankings, the series provides more than $8,000,000 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 and a pathway that feeds into the T100 series

-ends- 

For Further Information: 

Anthony Scammell E: [email protected]

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. Its T100 Triathlon World Tour was introduced in January 2024 and is designated by World Triathlon as the ‘official World Championship for long distance triathlon’, which is part of a 12-year strategic partnership with the sport’s international governing body. The T100 Triathlon World Tour is a season-long schedule of World Championship level races competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run), where the world’s best triathletes go head-to-head in iconic locations on a global broadcast showing 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.  In 2025 these will include: Singapore (5-6 April), San Francisco (31 May-1 June), Vancouver (13-15 June), London (9-10 August), France (29-31 August), Valencia (20 September), Lake Las Vegas (25-26 October), Dubai (15-16 November) and Qatar (12-13 December) for the first Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final. T100 weekends are ‘festivals of multisport’ and feature a range of opportunities for amateur athletes of all levels to get involved. From experienced amateurs tackling the 100km distance to first-time swim, bike and run participants taking on single discipline, untimed events. For more information visit www.t100triathlon.com