T100 – San Francisco Preview
“ It’s finally race week – after nearly six months since I last laced up the dancing shoes. I’m beyond excited to get 2025 underway. I put in a massive shift over the New Zealand summer, walking that tightrope between peak performance and burnout. I ended up needing a short reset, but I’m back – rebuilt and ready for San Francisco.
This city holds a special place in my career. It felt like my first real breakthrough – a glimpse of the athlete I always believed I could become. I came within millimetres of the biggest win of my career… a finish that still holds the title of the closest ever.
It’s been a long grind back to fitness, but I’m confident and fired up to take on one of the toughest courses on the circuit. There have been a few upgrades since last year too – I’ll be rolling the new Parcours Chrono and disc, plus a fresh cockpit setup. Hopefully that gives me the edge to shave off those final millimetres.
Let’s see how the cookie crumbles – I’m ready for the scrap.”
That’s Parcours athlete Kyle Smith talking to us ahead of the T100 in San Francisco this weekend. As Kyle mentions above, last year he came so close to winning the race, in a three-way sprint for the line with Martin Van Riel taking the win, just 1second ahead of Kyle, Rico Bogen, just another 3seconds back. Kyle who is currently ranked third in the world (according to the PTO World Rankings ), has yet to win a T100 race. He’s come close, a 2nd place at T100 London 2024, to match his San Francisco result, and then a 4th in the T100 Grand Final, and a 4th at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Champs – all fantastic results. Having had to withdraw from T100 Singapore in race week, can he hit San Francisco, and take that win? One thing we know for sure from Kyle and the way he races, he’ll be all in and race hard and flat out from the start, to give him every possible chance. With all the team here, chearing him on.
The full podium from 2024 will race again this weekend in San Francisco, as well as a new wave of short course athletes moving up the distance having secured T100 contracts for 2025, or Wild Card spots for this race. Vincent Luis (FRA), Marc Dubrick (USA), Jake Birtwhistle (AUS), Jamie Riddle (ZAF), Kenji Nener (JPN) and Morgan Pearson (USA), adding to Jelle Geens (BEL) who made his mark over the distance towards the end of the 2024 season, winning T100 Lake Las Vegas and then the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships.
Luis finished in 24th in T100 Singapore, and Geens was a DNF, so both athletes will be hunting for better results in San Francisco. Also, the 1st and 2nd placed athletes in T100 Singapore, Hayden Wilde (NZL) and Leo Bergere (FRA) aren’t racing this weekend. Wilde having had a bad crash a few weeks ago and so still in early days of his rehab, and Bergere sitting this race out, perhaps focusing on the shorter World Triathlon series.
The dramatic backdrop to this race, athletes jumping off the boat into the merky waters of San Fransisco Bay, in front of The Alcatraze prison, mixed with the unpredictable swim conditions, makes San Fransisco an unpredictable race, but an exciting one!
Hanne de Vet coming off the back of The Challenge Family, The Championships, win, secured a Wild Card for this race. We should tell Hanne that in 2024, Kyle won The Championships too, and then went on to that close race and 2nd place in T100 San Francisco, also as a wild card! No pressure Hanne. For the women a lot of the focus will be on the Kate Waugh v Taylor Knibb match up. Waugh announcing herself on the scene, winning T100 Singapore, which Knibb didn’t race. But add in Ashleigh Gentle and Julie Derron, two of the athletes that came closest perhaps to challenge Knibb’s dominance in the T100 races last year. On the women’s side we also see the return to racing of Britain’s, Holly Lawrence, having had a baby girl, Poppy. Lawrence, due to the T100 maternity policy, is guaranteed three wildcards, and so takes her first this weekend. Her form really unknown, but she used to live in San Francisco, so knows these roads well.
It’s hard to pick winners for this race, due to the unpredictability of the swim (times of 14mins (men) and 17mins (women) for the 2km swim (last year), It really opens the race up both sides.
We will of course be hoping that it’s Kyle Smith and Hanne de Vet standing at least on the podium, if not that top spot!
