Paris 2024 hopeful Taylor Knibb fired a warning shot across the bows to her Olympic rivals with an emphatic victory in the San Francisco T100 triathlon on Saturday.
The American, who is set to go for three golds in France this summer, finished almost four minutes ahead of Britain’s Kat Matthews on the famous Escape From Alcatraz course.
“It did not feel easy but it is a great course and atmosphere out there – and I was very grateful to do this race today,” Knibb said.
Second out of the water, the reigning US cycling time trial champion left her rivals for dust on the bike and only lost some of that advantage to Matthews on the run.
Knibb’s win in her first appearance of the season on the revamped T100 Tour earned her $25,000 and 35 points, leaving her 21 behind leader Lucy Charles-Barclay.
While Charles-Barclay sat out this race to prepare for next month’s London T100, fellow Brit Matthews banked 28 points to enter the top 10 of the season standings.
“I’m pretty proud,” said Matthews. “I’m glad to have been able to have given Taylor a training day out before her Olympic prep begins.”
Compatriots Emma Pallant-Brown and India Lee finished fifth and eighth. Lee now sits third in the season standings, behind Australian Ashleigh Gentle.
In the men’s race, Belgian Marten Van Riel pipped New Zealand’s Kyle Smith and Rico Bogen of Germany in a thrilling three-way sprint finish.
Van Riel, a long-distance triathlon specialist but making his debut on the T100 tour, reeled in Smith and Bogen on the run before taking the win by 0.23 seconds.
“I gave everything I had. I just had Kyle on the line – that was incredible,” said the Olympian. “I’ve not been pushed to my limits in long distance racing before and I’m pretty sure today I’ve been pushed to my limits.
“We’re doing a three hour 20 [minutes] race and the difference is less than a second and then two seconds to Rico. That’s incredible and it’s really nice to be part of that.”
Van Riel pipped Smith in a sprint finish to the men’s race at the San Francisco T100 triathlon (Image: T100 Tour)
Smith fell to the ground and vomited immediately after being beaten on the line, having attempted to pull away on the last leg.
“This course throws up a lot of challenges. It’s iconic. With 4km to go I knew it was going to come down to a sprint finish and I had to prepare for that,” he said.
“I was thinking about diving, but even if I’d dived I wouldn’t have got there. He just had it over me, he was carrying too much speed.”
Sam Long’s eighth-place finish was enough to give the American the lead in the season standings. Britain’s Alistair Brownlee was 14th in San Francisco and sits 12th overall.