Taylor Knibb and Jelle Geens kept their championship bids alive in the T100 Triathlon World Tour with matching bronze medals at the London stop, racing through a star-studded field stacked with world champions and Olympic medalists.
Knibb exited the two-kilometre swim in 26:36, just eight seconds behind Lucy Charles-Barclay, then surged to the front on the 80-kilometre bike with the day’s fastest split of 2:00:56. Starting the 18-kilometre run shoulder-to-shoulder with Charles-Barclay and Kate Waugh, she dug deep to hold off all other challengers, crossing the line after a 1:09:03 run, including team mate India Lee who finished 10th.
“I had to keep rallying myself to keep going… You tell yourself, ‘No’ and just refocus,” she said post-race. “Two weeks ago I didn’t think I would be here.”
Looking ahead in the series, she added, “If we’re doing the math right, that’s pretty tight in the Top 4… It’s a long season and the most important racing is still to come.”
In the men’s race, Bahrain Victorious 13 teammate Leo Bergere led out of the water in 25:13, with Geens just seven seconds back. Geens clocked a 1:52:15 bike split to start the run five minutes behind the leaders, then unleashed the day’s fastest run in 1:00:19 to close the gap on all but Hayden Wilde and Mika Noodt. Eight minutes later, Bergere capped his day with a Top 10 finish.
Geens said, “I think my day started with a very good swim and I found myself in the lead pack quite comfortably so I think that was a highlight of the day. From there I went downhill. I actually really struggled to find my rhythm on the bike. I ran well but it took a lot out of me; it wasn’t easy.”
Both Knibb and Geens currently reign atop the Professional Triathletes Organisation rankings, but every result counts in their build toward the major world championships in the latter quarter of the year.
