Singapore: Defending women’s champion Ashleigh Gentle, double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee and new PTO Athlete Board member David McNamee speak of Singapore’s brutally hot conditions and iconic skyline as the countdown builds to this weekend’s Singapore T100.

Australian Ashleigh Gentle is eagerly looking forward to her first race of the season:

“It’s really nice to be back. I feel like I am settled now that I am here in Singapore. At home I was feeling a bit like I just wanted to be here. I’m the defending champion of this race but I haven’t actually raced yet in 2024. There was a bit of nervousness but also excitement to get out on the race course.”

“Coming back here after winning this race at the end of last year, I’ve picked a pretty big one to start my season with. There are those doubts that maybe I should have raced before coming here but then I also think I have done a really good summer of work in Australia. I have been in a high-performance system since I was 15 years old so I have a lot of experience. I am hoping that experience will come to the fore and I can just jump into a race like this and not have too many cobwebs to blow out. I hope that I can fire on all cylinders in the first race, that’s definitely the goal, I am not sure if it’s going to be the reality but that’s part of racing.”

“I have a really good intuition of how hard I can dig in really hard conditions. It’s my first race of the year and there is that feeling that I will build into the year but on the flip side, Singapore is a race that really suits me and I need to seize that opportunity. I need to make sure I am firing and I can make good of this opportunity. It’s a big advantage to have done this course last year.”

British star Alistair Brownlee has spent the last 10 days in Malaysia to acclimatise for the Singapore heat and is hoping to build on his 5th place at the T100 season opener in Miami.

“I was training in Malaysia for 10 days before this, so I feel like I’ve been here a while. It took me a few days to get used to it, it’s brutally hot but I feel better for it.”

“Miami was really hot for me and I definitely overheated, I hadn’t really prepared for those conditions. I’m definitely more prepared for this one, I’m a bit fitter and more prepared for the heat. I’m hoping to be in a better place. Ideally, I would have spent a bit longer in these conditions but I feel I’ve done as well as I could in the last couple of weeks and I’m happy with that.”

David McNamee returns to Singapore having finished 10th here last year:

“It’s a beautiful place to race, it’s just so hot and humid. I’m slowly adjusting to the conditions. It’s my second time being here, I did the race last year and it’s an awesome place to have an event. The skyline is iconic, especially to swim in Marina Bay, and the buildings are insane. I never realised until last year how much passion there is for sport here, I was pretty shocked last year by how many spectators there were and how much happiness there was to see people doing live sport. It’s such a friendly community and that really adds to the event.”

“It has been a bit of a struggle the last four or five weeks, I’ve had a few problems with injury. But that’s sport, there’s always ups and downs. I’m not in the best shape going into this event but unless you put yourself on the race line, you never know what might happen. I’m here and I’m going to give it my best shot.”

On his debut season on the PTO Athlete Board, David added:

“I started on the PTO board in February. It’s great, the PTO has a really nice approach with regard to having an athlete board and listening to what professional athletes are looking for with regard to their sport.”

“For me, it was a great opportunity. I feel like it’s me trying to give something back to the sport and shape how the PTO and the T100 series will look going forward. It is great to see the approach the PTO is taking with regard to showcasing the professional side of the sport and making it a genuine series with eight events.”

“It’s nice to feel like the athletes are being heard. We can discuss anything we feel like we need to discuss. The PTO are very health and safety orientated, they don’t want to put athletes in any sort of danger. Even with regard to the bike course, it’s the most secure bike courses we have in any triathlon race – they are completely closed to traffic and well monitored by police. Anything an athlete wants to discuss, they can raise it with me or another board member, and we have direct contact with the CEO, the chairman – nothing is off the table.”

The women’s Singapore T100 race takes place on Saturday 13 April. The broadcast starts at 1400 local time (0700 BST) and the race starts 1415 (0715 BST). The men’s Singapore T100 race takes place on Sunday 14 April. The broadcast starts at 1500 local time (0800 BST) and the race starts 1515 (0815 BST). Both races live and exclusive on Eurosport 1 and Discovery+ in Europe, in Singapore you can watch live on mewatch and the rest of the world on PTO+ or the T100 YouTube channel. For more details visit: https://t100triathlon.com/singapore/pro/

Global Start Times – Women, 13 April

• Las Vegas: 23:00 (12 Apr)
• San Francisco: 23:00 (12 Apr)
• Vancouver: 23:00 (12 Apr)
• Mexico City: 00:00
• Miami: 02:00
• New York: 02:00
• Santiago: 02:00
• Brasilia: 03:00
• Dublin: 06:00
• London: 07:00
• Cape Town: 08:00
• Ibiza: 08:00
• Munich: 08:00
• Istanbul: 09:00
• Nairobi: 09:00
• Dubai: 10:00
• Karachi: 11:00
• New Delhi: 11:30
• Jakarta: 13:00
• Beijing: 14:00
• Singapore: 14:00
• Tokyo: 15:00
• Sydney: 16:00
• Auckland: 18:00

Global Start Times – Men, 14 April

• Las Vegas: 00:00
• San Francisco: 00:00
• Vancouver: 00:00
• Mexico City: 01:00
• Miami: 03:00
• New York: 03:00
• Santiago: 03:00
• Brasilia: 04:00
• Dublin: 07:00
• London: 08:00
• Cape Town: 09:00
• Ibiza: 09:00
• Munich: 09:00
• Istanbul: 10:00
• Nairobi: 10:00
• Dubai: 11:00
• Karachi: 12:00
• New Delhi: 12:30
• Jakarta: 14:00
• Beijing: 15:00
• Singapore: 15:00
• Tokyo: 16:00
• Sydney: 17:00
• Auckland: 19:00

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Notes To Editors:

Please find the new link to T100 photography access below, including instructions on how to set up your account.

• Go to this link and set up an account https://t100triathlon.photoshelter.com/ by clicking Login in the top right hand corner.
• If you have already signed up for multimedia access before, you will be immediately approved and ready to download T100 race images. If you’re new, pls visit our accreditation link here.

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For Further Information: 

Anthony Scammell E: [email protected]

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 will be a season-long schedule of eight T100 races during 2024 that will be competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run) and will feature 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), Dubai (16-17 November) and at the Grand Final (29-30 November). There will be racing opportunities for amateurs at all the events, including the new 100km distance at six stages, including: Singapore, London, Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas, Dubai and at the Grand Final. The broadcast will show 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.