Britain’s Kate Waugh had led the T100 Race To Qatar rankings going into the title decider and knew a victory would seal the season-long crown – and her first ever World Championship in the sport. Slowing to a walk through exhaustion in the final straight and then stumbling to her knees as she crossed the line, Waugh had to give it absolutely everything to get the job done.
But she was simply not to be denied by title rivals Julie Derron, who’s run wasn’t quite on top form, and saw her finish third behind a resurgent Georgia Taylor-Brown; and Lucy Charles-Barclay, who had lost ground on the leaders over the run to finish fifth.
“Oh my gosh, that was the most dramatic way to win the world title,” said Waugh.” I’ve always been a bit of a drama queen, so perhaps that was the best way to win it I guess. I’m completely overwhelmed with emotion right now. I do not want to see those finish line photos!”
“That had it all. It was just hard from start to finish. I think I cried a bit on the bike, I just was suffering so much and obviously there was the drama with the water stations and I was getting angry. My dad said to me at one point “Okay just channel that anger” so I set off on the run and didn’t look back. Going onto the last lap I felt the floor starting to tilt a bit and I was like “oh I’m in trouble now” I just held it together and then Georgia was putting me under pressure and I luckily just got across the line.”
“It hurt so much, mentally, emotionally…it’s December now and I’ve never raced this late in the year. I’m tired but I told myself I’m going to enjoy my holiday so much more if I just give it one last push.
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
T100 series contender Lucy Charles-Barclay led the 2km swim, leaving the water in 26:25, fronting a lead group of eight that included fellow Briton Kate Waugh – 1st in Race To Qatar standings – along with Jess Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown. Meanwhile, another pre-race favorite – Switzerland’s Julie Derron – exited the water 1:24 behind.
After a fast T1, Waugh led early on the 80km bike before Learmonth and then Charles-Barclay joined her – creating an all-British front trio. By 15km, the top five were exclusively British, with India Lee and Taylor-Brown the only other athletes within 1 minute of the lead. After seeming to struggle on the last bike lap, Waugh eventually surged in the final 5km to enter T2 first.
Showing another lightning transition, Waugh took a 17-second lead out onto the 18km run, while Derron started the run in 6th place, 1:44 behind. By the 5km mark, Waugh led Charles-Barclay by 48 seconds, with Taylor-Brown (+1:21) and Derron (+1:41) chasing hard to come up onto the Brit’s shoulder. That pair then ran together, overtaking Charles-Barclay and in the final lap, Taylor-Brown broke away from Derron to close within 45 seconds of the lead with 1500m to go.
Despite Taylor-Brown’s late charge, Waugh was alone going into the finish straight, grabbing the tape full of emotion and exhaustion to win the Race To Qatar and become the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Champion in a time of 3:31:30. The Brit takes $25,000 for the win and a huge $200,000 world champion bonus. Taylor-Brown was 2nd, moving herself up 10 places to 7th in the final T100 Race To Qatar Standings
Derron’s 3rd place secured 2nd overall in the T100 Standings, meanwhile, Australia’s Ellie Salthouse managed to overhaul Charles-Barclay and take 4th place, moving her up 5 spots in the T100 Standings, Charles-Barclay rounding out the top-5, finishing 3rd overall in the standings.
