British star Lucy Charles-Barclay caught compatriot Kate Waugh at the end of the run to win an epic London T100 Triathlon and claim a hard fought and emotional first T100 victory in front of a packed home crowd at the London’s Excel.
The London T100 got underway with the women diving into the glittering water of Royal Victoria Dock for the 2km swim leg. Local hero Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) surged to the front, leading a group of strong swimmers including Jessica Learmonth (GBR), 2024 T100 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA) and Singapore T100 winner Kate Waugh (GBR).
Continuing to fragment the field on the second lap, Charles-Barclay got onto dry land after 26:28 at the head of that same group. Holly Lawrence (GBR) was best of the rest, but 30 seconds behind, while Olympic silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) was 1 minute off the pace.
Learmonth wasted no time on two wheels: after a quick change, the Brit powered out of transition to create an early lead. Waugh and Charles-Barclay soon set off in pursuit of the Yorkshirewoman, Knibb’s slow transition costing her around 20 seconds.
As the kilometres ticked away that trio established themselves at the front, holding 20-30 seconds on Knibb while San Francisco T100 winner Julie Derron (SWI) was up into 5th with Lisa Perterer (AUT) – 2nd in Singapore T100 – in close by.
As the bike neared halfway, yet another British contender emerged – Lucy Byram was up 9 places on her post-swimming position and overtook Derron to make it 4 Brits in the top-5, though still 2:30 behind the leaders.
With 30km to go, Knibb made it up to the front group and was soon the new leader on course, forcing a growing gap to Charles-Barclay in 2nd. Shortly after, Taylor-Brown suffered a rear puncture, which saw her drop down to over 7 minutes in arrears, putting her well out of contention.
Onto the final 10km lap, Charles-Barclay was once again in front and pushing hard with Knibb, Learmonth and Waugh, still packed together. Byram was in no man’s land at 1:45 but 2 minutes ahead of the remainder of the field.
As T2 loomed, Charles-Barclay’s slim lead saw her first off the bike, Learmonth Knibb and Waugh heading onto the 18km run together. Byram’s deficit off the bike was 1:54 with Derron at 4:49.
Learmonth was quickly dropped as Knibb and Waugh pushed on shoulder-to-shoulder, keeping Charles-Barclay in sight and gradually reeling her in. The front trio were reunited by 2.6km into the run, all clocking around 3:30/km pace.
At 4.5km Kate Waugh stepped on the gas to drop Knibb. Charles-Barclay gamely held on for another kilometre but Waugh’s pace was too great. With 8km to go, Waugh was holding Charles-Barclay at 19 seconds and Knibb at 1:14 – but as the race wore on, telltale signs of fatigue appeared on Waugh’s face.
Going onto the final lap with 3.6km to go, Charles-Barclay was eating into Waugh’s lead, the deficit down to 10 seconds as the veteran athlete hunted 1st place. The catch came with 2.4km to go, Charles-Barclay surging past as Waugh tried – and failed – to respond.
Powering back into Excel to meet the roaring crowd, Charles-Barclay turned into the finish zone, the smile appearing as she finally cracked the code to win a T100 title on home soil. Bursting into tears as she crossed the tape in 3:35:51, the British superstar moved into 4th in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Waugh retained 2nd place over the line – another great showing from the Brit in her rookie T100 season and enough to take the top of the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Taylor Knibb secured 3rd place, maintaining 2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings – the 2024 T100 World Champion once again beatable in a season hotting up as anyone’s to win.
Derron was 4th – 3rd in the standings – with Byram’s 5th place making it 3 Britons in the top-5.
| Position |
Athlete |
Finish |
T100 Race To Qatar Points |
Prize Money |
| 1 |
L Charles-Barclay |
3:35:51 |
35 |
$25,000 |
| 2 |
K Waugh |
3:36:46 |
29 |
$17,000 |
| 3 |
T Knibb |
3:39:07 |
26 |
$13,000 |
| 4 |
J Derron |
3:40:59 |
23 |
$10,500 |
| 5 |
L Byram |
3:41:48 |
20 |
$9,000 |
| 6 |
J Learmonth |
3:42:25 |
18 |
$8,000 |
| 7 |
A Gentle |
3:42:57 |
16 |
$7,000 |
| 8 |
L Perterer |
3:44:17 |
14 |
$6,000 |
| 9 |
H Berry |
3:45:36 |
12 |
$5,000 |
| 10 |
I Lee |
3:47:58 |
11 |
$4,500 |
| 11 |
L Madsen |
3:50:07 |
10 |
$4,000 |
| 12 |
G Taylor-Brown |
3:50:21 |
9 |
$3,500 |
| 13 |
H De Vet |
3:50:37 |
8 |
$3,000 |
| 14 |
E Salthouse |
3:52:35 |
7 |
$2,500 |
| 15 |
G Alexander |
3:55:54 |
6 |
$2,000 |
| 16 |
E Visser |
4:01:50 |
5 |
$1,500 |