Taylor Knibb storms to victory in Vancouver and returns to the top of the T100

The Vancouver T100 gave us a thrilling race in the women's category.

The swimming started with a very compact group where, as usual, Lucy Charles-Barclay She set the pace, accompanied by Maya Kingma and Jessica Learmonth. Just seconds later, Taylor Knibb, Taylor Spivey, and Holly Lawrence emerged from the water, forming a block of six women separated by just 11 seconds.

Behind them, podium favorites Julie Derron and Ashleigh Gentle started more than two minutes behind, forcing them to fight back from the start on the bike.

Knibb and Learmonth, unstoppable on two wheels

Already in cycling, Knibb was soon in the lead alongside Learmonth. Both set a blistering pace and opened up a gap lap after lap. By kilometer 60, they were already more than four minutes ahead of Charles-Barclay and Kingma, who were trying to organize their pursuit.

The bad news for the local public came with Paula Findlay, who had to serve a one-minute penalty and completely dropped out of the fight for the podium.

In the last 20 km of cycling, Knibb and Learmonth consolidated their lead. They arrived together at T2, with more than a 4-minute lead over the pursuers. Behind her, Julie Derron finished sixth, with almost 6 minutes to make up in the run.

Foot race with Knibb attack and Derron comeback

As soon as you put on your slippers, Knibb quickly opened a gap. In the first two kilometers he already had a 17 second lead over Learmonth, who, despite not yet being 100% fit after his soleus injury, remained firmly in second place.

Derron, meanwhile, began her own comeback. She overtook Lawrence, then Charles-Barclay, and entered the direct fight for the podium. By the halfway point, she was already third, but still more than four minutes behind Knibb.

The Swiss woman continued to push and, in the final 3 km, reduced the gap to less than a minute. In the final kilometer, she managed to catch and overtake Learmonth to take second place.

Taylor Knibb, back to the T100 throne

With a final time of 3:30:50, Taylor Knibb crossed the finish line as the undisputed winner of the race., reaffirming its dominance after the stumble in San Francisco.

Julie Derron She was second with 3:32:55 and Jessica Learmonth He closed the podium with 3:33:18, in a very commendable performance after months of recovery.

Top 10 women's ranking