It had promised to be an epic showdown – and how it delivered.
There was so much on the line for the women in the Triathlon World Tour’s Grand finale in Dubai – the race win, a first-ever T100 world title and 2025 contract offers for the first 10 in the overall standings.
And for the first time this season, American superstar Taylor Knibb didn’t have it all her own way.
She was in the front pack in the swim but so too were her main rivals Ashleigh Gentle and Julie Derron.
For a long time on the bike that pair stayed within a minute but Knibb first escaped a possible littering penalty and then put the hammer down late on to give herself a near three-minute advantage starting the run.
It all boils down to the run
Would that be enough over the 18km?
At first it looked like ‘no’ as Gentle chopped the lead down to just under a minute by the 10km-mark.
But Knibb responded like a true champion as she, Gentle and Olympic silver medallist Derron gave it absolutely everything in the brutal heat.
It would be Gentle who would falter late on as Knibb sealed the win and Derron moved into the runner-up spot.
T100 Dubai results – Pro Women
We’ve rounded up the full results and swim, bike and run splits and here’s how it all ended up:
| Position | Athlete | Swim time | Bike time | Run time | Overall time |
| 1 | Taylor Knibb (USA) | 26:36 | 01:54:18 | 01:06:26 | 03:29:17 |
| 2 | Julie Derron (SUI) | 26:37 | 01:57:29 | 01:05:35 | 03:31:08 |
| 3 | Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) | 26:43 | 01:57:15 | 01:06:00 | 03:31:42 |
| 4 | Flora Duffy (BER) | 26:39 | 02:01:03 | 01:03:32 | 03:33:05 |
| 5 | Kat Matthews (GBR) | 29:18 | 01:57:23 | 01:05:28 | 03:34:18 |
| 6 | Lucy Byram (GBR) | 29:12 | 01:56:14 | 01:07:47 | 03:34:56 |
| 7 | Laura Philipp (GER) | 29:43 | 01:57:04 | 01:07:17 | 03:36:01 |
| 8 | Taylor Spivey (USA) | 26:34 | 02:03:15 | 01:04:56 | 03:36:23 |
| 9 | Imogen Simmonds (SUI) | 26:42 | 01:57:13 | 01:10:55 | 03:36:41 |
| 10 | Anne Haug (GER) | 29:16 | 02:00:27 | 01:05:36 | 03:37:29 |
| 11 | Paula Findlay (CAN) | 28:13 | 01:57:55 | 01:10:36 | 03:38:42 |
| 12 | India Lee (GBR) | 26:50 | 01:58:21 | 01:13:22 | 03:40:34 |
| 13 | Kaidi Kivioja (EST) | 29:16 | 01:59:12 | 01:11:33 | 03:41:55 |
| 14 | Laura Madsen (DEN) | 29:17 | 02:00:47 | 01:10:10 | 03:42:05 |
| 15 | Marlene De Boer (NED) | 29:40 | 02:02:39 | 01:08:57 | 03:43:33 |
| 16 | Sara Perez Sala (ESP) | 26:31 | 02:02:35 | 01:12:46 | 03:43:53 |
| 17 | Kate Curran (GBR) | 28:11 | 02:07:08 | 01:08:38 | 03:46:11 |
| 18 | Marjolaine Pierré (FRA) | 28:14 | 02:03:28 | 01:15:25 | 03:49:11 |
| 19 | Diede Diederiks (NED) | 33:34 | 2:03:23 | 1:13:33 | 3:52:25 |
| DNF | Tamara Jewett (CAN) | 30:00 |
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