Originally published at: Waugh Puts It All on the Line to Win the 2025 T100 Qatar Grand Final - Slowtwitch News
Kate Waugh wins T100 Wollongong. Photo: T100
Three women with a shot of the T100 world title–Kate Waugh, Lucy Charles-Barclay, and Julie Derron–made for exciting racing at the final in Qatar. Waugh, who hasn’t finished off the T100 podium this year, didn’t need to win to take the title, but she couldn’t allow either of the other two to finish first if she was to win. As the race unfolded, Waugh had to go all in to take the win … and did so in dramatic fashion.
Exactly as you would expect, Charles-Barclay took out the swim. Hot on her feet, though, were Jessica Learmonth and Sara Perez-Sala, with Waugh sitting fourth. The field was in one long, strung-out line for the first 600 m, but after the Australian exit, small gaps turned into five distinct groups on loop two. The lead pack of eight saw Waugh and Learmonth shoulder-to-shoulder with Charles-Barclay jostling for the lead, but Charles-Barclay didn’t take kindly to that move, and retook the lead for the remainder of the swim.
Into T2, the short-course background women dominated transition with Waugh leading out Perez-Sala, Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Taylor Spivey, Holly Lawrence and India Lee. Fifteen seconds behind was the second group that included title-contender Derron coming out in ninth.
With 80 km of road ahead, the chase started for both Derron and Charles-Barclay, who lost her lead and precious time in transition. By lap two, Charles-Barclay made contact with Waugh and Learmonth, making a lead group of three. Meanwhile, Derron seemed settled into her own rhythm, maintaining her general position, but losing more time, hovering just over two minutes back for the majority of the race.
It wasn’t until 26 km to go that things started to change at the front. As Charles-Barclay took the lead for the first time, Waugh slid to third position and seemingly started to struggle with the heat, slowing right down to grab water bottles and shaking her head. Ten kilometers later, there was a small, but noticeable, gap between Waugh and the two leaders, and it seemed like the heat was really taking control of her race. However, with 4 km to go, she regained contact and, to the surprise of everyone, attacked to regain the lead just 500 m ahead of transition.
Punching into transition in seventh, Derron had brought her gap down to 1:45 but, crucially, was only 35 seconds behind speedy-runner Taylor-Brown. Notably, Lucy Byram, who was 20th out of the water, rode in just ahead of Derron to take the fastest bike split in 1:54:24, showing once again she is one of the top bikers in the field.
Waugh, flying off her bike in true short-course form, blitzed through transition in 38 seconds, while Charles-Barclay stopped to dismount and took an additional 12 seconds to get through T2. That gap became more sizable in the first few steps of the run course and Waugh would go on to build her lead, clocking the first 5 km in 18:12. But Derron, who also clocked a 38 second T2, got straight to work, picking off the women in front of her. After 7 km, Derron ran herself up to third, putting the three title contenders 1-2-3 on the course.
Not soon after, Derron, with Talyor-Brown on her shoulder, would catch, and pass, a slowing Charles-Barclay. All eyes were on Derron, but her early efforts left her unable to respond to an attack from Talyor-Brown. Almost instantly, Taylor-Brown had a 20 second gap on Derron and the question turned to whether she would be able to catch Waugh.
The gap, however, was insurmountable, and we saw Waugh crack a smile with 500 m to go. Looking composed right until her last wobbly steps across the finish line, Waugh took the tape in 3:31:30 to win the T100 world title. As she fell to her knees and vomited orange nutrition on the signature T100 blue carpet, Taylor-Brown would cross to take second, with Derron in third. Charles-Barclay would finish fifth, behind Ellie Salthouse.
”It was just hard from start to finish. I think I cried a bit on the bike, I just was suffering so much,” Waugh said after the race. “I set off on the run and didn’t look back and, then going onto the last lap, I kind of felt the floor starting to kind of tilt a bit and I was like, oh, I’m in trouble now. I was like, just hold it together. And then Georgia was putting me under pressure and luckily just about got across the line.”
“ That was the most dramatic way, I think, to win a world title,” she said, primarily referencing her “addition” to the blue carpet. “I’ve always been a bit of a drama queen, so the best way to win it, I guess, but I’m completely overwhelmed with emotion right now.”
| Position | Athlete | Country | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall Time | Behind Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kate Waugh | GBR | 26:28 | 01:55:37 | 01:07:13 | 03:31:30 | – |
| 2 | Georgia Taylor-Brown | GBR | 26:35 | 01:56:31 | 01:06:16 | 03:31:50 | +00:21 |
| 3 | Julie Derron | SUI | 27:43 | 01:55:58 | 01:06:30 | 03:32:31 | +01:02 |
| 4 | Ellie Salthouse | AUS | 27:33 | 01:56:04 | 01:08:12 | 03:34:51 | +03:22 |
| 5 | Lucy Charles-Barclay | GBR | 26:25 | 01:55:28 | 01:10:35 | 03:35:08 | +03:38 |
| 6 | Ashleigh Gentle | AUS | 29:13 | 01:58:22 | 01:05:21 | 03:35:30 | +04:01 |
| 7 | Holly Lawrence | GBR | 26:31 | 01:57:28 | 01:09:53 | 03:36:27 | +04:58 |
| 8 | Jess Learmonth | GBR | 26:27 | 01:55:31 | 01:12:11 | 03:36:46 | +05:17 |
| 9 | Sara Pérez Sala | ESP | 26:32 | 01:57:48 | 01:10:18 | 03:37:14 | +05:44 |
| 10 | Caroline Pohle | GER | 27:43 | 01:55:55 | 01:10:54 | 03:37:19 | +05:50 |
We’ll update this story with photos as they become available..
