Swiss star Julie Derron put together a bike and run masterclass in the Dubai T100 Triathlon to secure a convincing victory despite the heat of the Emirates. Coming back strong from injury, Derron beat series leader – Britain’s Kate Waugh – to re-establish herself as a threat for the T100 Triathlon World Championship title in a few short weeks.
Her second win of the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour season after taking the win in the San Francisco T100, Derron had a deficit to make up after the swim but rose to the occasion with aplomb, securing the fastest T1, bike, T2 and run times on her way to raising the finishing tape.
Banishing a low-scoring Singapore T100 race from her 2025 resume, Derron now sits second in the T100 Race To Qatar standings, moving up two places to overtake Lucy Charles-Barclay and sit just 6 points short of Waugh on the leaderboard.
From Waugh’s second place, it was a British domination, claiming the remainder of the top-five thanks to a third podium for Jessica Learmonth, another step up from Georgia Taylor-Brown and a strong effort from Holly Lawrence.
With the scores set, it will be all to play for as the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour reaches its climax at the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championships on 12 December.
KEY QUOTES
Julie Derron (SUI)
“It was amazing, honestly I can’t quite believe that it’s already over and that I finished. I’m just so glad to be back and feeling myself again.”
“Of course I was pushing all the way for sure. I kept thinking about my coach, he would tell me to push all the way to the finish line and that’s what I tried to do. My mum’s been one of the biggest supporters so to find her at the finish line was really important to me and give her a hug. She’s been with me through all the ups and downs.”
“The swim was really difficult, it was super choppy so I found it quite hard to stay on the feet and I had to really go all out to stay as close as possible. I think I had a small gap but it was manageable and I really invested a lot at the beginning of the bike to reach up to Kate and Jess at the front of the race. Jess made the ride super hard and I was just hanging on. She kept looking back trying to get us to work at the front but I was like “I can barely hold your wheels, I can’t really do much at the front”. But I tried to also keep the pace high and just onto the run I tried to find my rhythm and, as I said before, it feels so great to feel myself again on the run.”
Speaking about the T100 Race To Qatar
“Definitely, for me the goal was to improve from my 12th place in Singapore and I, for sure, did that. I can scratch that from my overall ranking now. I’m really happy to have had a great race today and I’m getting back into training and trying to be the best I can be in Qatar.”
Kate Waugh (GBR)
“I’m actually pretty happy with the result today. I mean, it was a hard race – I tried to make it hard right from the start, make it an honest race. I’m pretty happy to be honest. The heat wasn’t too much of a factor on the run. On the bike it felt really, really hot and I was getting myself confused on the laps. It was a good day.”
“I think so, I think actually that on the swim it was super, super salty water so that was pretty dehydrating and the bike was hot. So I was just trying to use every water station. Then on the run I did what I could, Julie has come back all guns blazing and I couldn’t go with her. I had a slower transition and I said “Okay, just build into it” but my “build into it” was her pulling away as well. I can’t be disappointed, I gave my everything today and it was second.”
On the T100 Race To Qatar:
“First of all, I think I’m going to take a couple of days to recover from this race. My coach and I have discussed it a lot for how we can best prepare for Qatar. This one was kind of just a race in between. I hope I can bring a stronger version of myself to Qatar.”
Jess Learmonth (GBR)
“I’m very good at runner up – claiming a third again! I’m delighted with that so I can’t complain.”
“I thought I just tried to set off pretty calm and steady because in Singapore maybe I overdid it. I actually felt pretty strong and every lap I felt more comfortable and able to push on. I think after halfway we started to go out a bit more so I didn’t really let my foot off the gas. My running’s not great compared to the other two, so I really need that gap, so that was the plan. It was just all about not blowing up on the run.”
On the T100 Race To Qatar:
“I really think I need to work on my swim. I’m just struggling getting the time in the pool, my swim has really dipped so I’m hoping to get that back up to speed. Usual work on the run. I think my bike’s alright so I’ll keep that as it is.”
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
Jessica Learmonth (GBR) led after the 2km swim with Taylor Spivey (USA), Kate Waugh (GBR) and Sara Perez Sala (ESP) in the lead pack, 31 seconds ahead of Holly Lawrence (GBR), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) and Julie Derron (SUI).
Onto the 80km bike, Derron made short work of her deficit and quickly joined the front group. As the bike wore on, Learmonth and Derron led the charge with Waugh just holding on. The trio pulled away from the chasers – Taylor-Brown best of the rest – their advantage growing throughout the route to over 4 minutes by T2.
The Swiss star was first out of transition and looked unflappable in the Dubai heat as the 18km run got underway. Waugh was up into 2nd place within the first kilometre and with that, the podium – and indeed the top five – was set.
Storming to a convincing victory, Derron crossed the line in 3:27:50, her run split of 01:03:22 almost 3-minutes faster than the rest.
Derron’s win secured her 35 points and $25,000, replacing a poorer score from the Singapore T100 and putting her 2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Waugh’s strong 2nd place earned her $17,000 and while it didn’t usurp a previous result, the Brit remains first on the Race To Qatar leaderboard.
Learmonth completed her trio of 3rd place finishes this year, her Dubai score of 26 points moving her up a spot into the top 5 along with a cheque for $17,000.
Taylor-Brown secured 4th place while Lawrence took 5th, putting 4 Brits in the top 5.
