Having won here last year, albeit against a different field and over a shorter distance, American Jason West was the odds on favourite for the win coming into the race at the Miami T100.
Unfortunately, however, things didn’t quite pan out on Saturday for the PTO World #3. Despite a strong swim, West was lapped by the leaders on the bike and could only salvage a seventh place finish with the fastest run split of the day.
Considering this was his lowest finish over the 100km distance since 2022, the top ranked American has a lot of room to improve between now and Singapore. Aiming for the world title, the 30-year-old will have his work cut out moving forward.
“I really struggled on the bike”
On a day where three of the four fastest cyclists finished on the podium, West had a very tough time on the bike leg, which he admitted was his downfall in his post race reflection on Instagram.
“First @t100triathlon tour race of the season done with 7th place. I’m definitely disappointed as it was a pretty up and down performance. The one thing that went well was the swim- it felt comfortable, so that was a good sign.
“I really struggled on the bike and ran decent enough to get myself up to a solid result in the end, but my goals are to be a lot further up than that. It’s a decent start to the year and a good place to build from.”
“There’s another opportunity right around the corner”
Having finished on the podium behind Kristian Blummenfelt and Pieter Heemeryck in Singapore last year, West will hope he can bounce back with a better race on April 13-14, when the tour makes its second stop in Southeast Asia.
Highlighting one of the major benefits of the T100 Tour, the Boulder based pro said that there was always another chance to test his fitness soon, with just five weeks until the next major race.
“The good thing about sport is there’s always another opportunity right around the corner. Singapore is only five weeks away.”