The San Francisco T100 Triathlon will set up some intriguing head-to-head battles in the women’s race, with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon announcing the contracted T100 female athletes racing the Escape From Alcatraz course on Saturday 31 May.
Last month’s Singapore winner Kate Waugh, who took the top step with a record-breaking performance on her first T100 outing, will take on last year’s T100 World Champion and San Francisco winner, American Taylor Knibb, who missed the Singapore race for ‘personal reasons’.
British Olympic star Waugh described the win as ‘the biggest victory of her career’ - and by the biggest T100 winning margin seen to date: 6 minutes 41 seconds. The question in the Golden Gate city as the world’s top 20 female triathletes take on the legendary Escape From Alcatraz course will be: ‘Can she repeat it?’
Ashleigh Gentle will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 6th position in Singapore, having set her sights higher. The Australian has won on this course twice in the past, in 2019 and 2015, and will be looking to channel those past, positive memories. Also looking for improvement will be Swiss star Julie Derron, who came 12th in Lion City, having previously always finished on the podium in her first three T100 races. Bermuda’s Olympic champion Flora Duffy DNF-ed in Singapore and will be looking to open her Race To Qatar points tally. As will Canadian Paula Findlay, who is entering the T100 fray following a convincing win to start her season at the Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside.
Also on the start line is Great Britain’s other Olympian Jess Learmonth, who won lots of admirers and respect for the way she raced in Singapore, pushing the pace hard on the swim and bike to lead going into the run, but then overheating in the humid conditions but refusing to pull out, eventually finishing 13th. American Olympian Taylor Spivey delivered an encouraging start to our 2025 T100 challenge by finishing 5th in Singapore and will be looking forward to racing on home soil.
The line up of contracted women racing in their T100 Race To Qatar rankings order:
1. Kate Waugh (GBR)
2. Taylor Spivey (USA)
3. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)
4. Grace Thek (AUS)
5. Marta Sanchez (ESP)
6. Julie Derron (SUI)
7. Jess Learmonth (GBR)
8. Flora Duffy (BER)
9. Lucy Byram (GBR)
10. Paula Findlay (CAN)
11. Taylor Knibb (USA)
The remaining slots will be taken by Wildcards announced on T100 social channels soon. The contracted T100 men racing in San Francisco will be announced Tuesday 29 April.
The 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour got under way in Singapore earlier this month (5-6 April) when professionals Kate Waugh of Great Britain and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde produced two world class performances to win and take the lead in the T100 Race To Qatar Rankings. Singapore also saw 7,000 amateurs compete in a combination of a 100km triathlon, two distances of duathlon and an untimed 5km music run.