American star Taylor Knibb returned to the top step at the inaugural Vancouver T100 Triathlon in front of a big crowd at a stunning Jericho Beach Park course. The Olympian’s stellar performance on the bike was matched only by Great Britain’s Jess Learmonth, which earned the pair almost 5 minutes on the rest of the field. 

But while Knibb went on to secure her first T100 win of the year, Learmonth was agonisingly caught in the last kilometer of the 18km run by Switzerland’s Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron. The Brit hanging on to third place to secure her first T100 podium. 

Key Quotes 

Taylor Knibb: 

“My run felt a lot better than San Francisco. My coach made a few changes to my training to help me and it really helped, so thank you. It was really fun racing with Jess. I’m really pleased she got a Hot Shot [for the T100 series] and she made me better out there and I was really grateful for it. It was a fun race, it’s so much better having Jess. Like on the technical section I wasn’t taking it as well as she was, so I ended up following her line and wheel and that made me better. That is the fun thing about a lap course, is that you can learn on each lap and get better. She was really strong on that section and I was better at others and I’m glad that we could trade off each other.”

On staying ahead on the run: “There’s always doubts and anything can happen in a race so I treated it step by step and you focus on yourself.”

On the 100km format: “The distance is fantastic, the format is fantastic, the non draft race but also the laps – and it’s really professional.”

Julie Derron: 

“I gave myself quite a bit of work after the swim. My swim was terrible today, I don’t know what happened and then I found myself a bit in no man’s land on the bike, but I just had to focus and keep pushing away and onto the run I knew I was aiming for the podium and I was just hunting down Jess, which really kept me honest and kept me going all out until the finish line. So to come second when things didn’t go that well, I’m really pleased with. After Singapore the goal was to get back on the podium in these two races [San Francisco and Vancouver] and I’ve done that so I couldn’t ask for more.”

Jessica Learmonth: 

On her third place: “I can’t even tell you, I’m so delighted. So shocked. I can’t believe I’m stood here having got third, honestly. The difference here to how I felt on the run in San Francisco in just two weeks, is like…I’m shocked. I don’t really look at other people, I just focus on myself and then I saw her [Derron] at the dead turn on the last lap and I know straight away and then she sprinted past me and I thought, no, there’s nothing in the tank.”

“It was good fun at the front with Taylor on the bike. I really enjoyed it. Riding with her and being petrified of the red light and having to go past her, cos going past Taylor’s not easy!”

How The Race Unfolded 

In the women’s race, Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) took the 2km swim out hard with Jess Learmonth (GBR), Wildcard Maya Kingma (NED), Holly Lawrence (GBR), 2024 T100 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA) and Taylor Spivey (USA) strung out behind but in contact. 

Wildcard Alice Betto (ITA) was in no-mans land while Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) led the main chase group, around 90-seconds behind by the 1km split, trailed by the likes of Paula Findlay (CAN) and San Francisco T100 winner Julie Derron (SWI).

Out of the water with a 2:40 lead on the chasing group, Learmonth quickly took the lead while Knibb was soon in 2nd place. From there, the pair locked together to power away from the rest of the field.

The race settled into a groove with the leaders pulling ever further ahead with only Paula Findlay’s 1-minute drafting penalty disrupting the flow. At the half-way mark of the bike, Knibb and Learmonth led Charles-Barclay by 2:24, Kingma and Lawrence another 20 seconds behind. Julie Derron was up to 6th place, but 4-minutes in arrears, Spivey at 4:20 and Gentle at 4:43, the last athlete within 5-minutes of the lead.

With 20km to go, Charles-Barclay and Kingma were trailing Knibb and Learmonth by 3:48, Lawrence around another 20-seconds back and Derron another 1:10 behind Lawrence.

Off the bike and Knibb was first onto the 18km run, distancing Learmonth out of transition. Learmonth was well out of sight by the time the trio of Charles-Barclay, Kingma and Lawrence entered transition, 4:44 behind while Derron was another 40 seconds back.

Charles-Barclay ran up to 3rd but before long, Derron’s ferocious running pace saw her make the pass and into the podium positions – but still 3:38 behind Learmonth with 10km to go. Meanwhile, Knibb was holding strong at the front with a 1-minute lead.

With Knibb 3km from the finish, her lead to Learmonth was 2:08 and unassailable. For the remaining podium positions, the splits showed it was set to be a tight battle.

Nothing could stop Knibb’s path to a 5th T100 title and the American crossed the line well clear of the rest in 3:30:50 and up to 2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings after only 2 races.

A little way back on the course, Derron finally caught and passed Learmonth to take 2nd place – for the 4th time – to Knibb, 2:06 behind. That moved the Swiss star up to 2nd in the T100 standings.

Learmonth came home 3rd, clearly delighted with her first T100 podium finish 2:29 behind Knibb.

Lucy Charles-Barclay, finishing out of the podium placings in a T100 race for the first time, took 4th place while Gentle rounded out the top-5 after a strong run.

T100 weekends are ‘festivals of multisport’ and feature a range of opportunities for amateur athletes of all levels to get involved. 1,500 amateurs started the day with a 5k Sun Up community run at 0700, followed by a yoga experience powered by lululemon. Tomorrow,  another 1,500 will take part in a 100km (2km swim, 80km bike, 18 run) and a Sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run). 

The battle for T100 Race To Qatar points now moves to London next on 9-10 August.