T100 San Francisco: With Hayden Wilde out, Van Riel and Long head stellar start list

T100 Triathlon World Tour action is once again on the horizon as the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon hosts the second race of the 2025 season in San Francisco on May 31.

One name that will be missing from the start list is T100 Singapore race winner Hayden Wilde – he is currently recovering from a bike crash in Japan following a scintillating performance at the ASICS Tokyo Speed Race on Saturday night.

With the New Zealander set to miss at least this race, the likes of defending champion Marten Van Riel and the Big Unit Sam Long will be keen to take this opportunity to secure some vital ranking points in the Race To Qatar.

Keeping it Van Riel

One of the favourites heading into the race will likely be 2024 T100 World Champion Van Riel who finished a creditable third in Singapore – just one week after completing a full-distance IRONMAN in South Africa.

The Belgian won a trio of 100km events during the 2024 season – including a scintillating sprint finish win over New Zealand’s Kyle Smith in San Francisco – and has failed to finish outside the top three in any of his nine middle-distance appearances to date, winning seven of those.

Marten Van Riel high fives finishing straight T100 Ibiza 2024 photo credit PTO — Marten Van Riel takes in the applause [Photo credit: PTO]

The Netherlands Youri Keulen is the only other T100 Singapore top-five finisher set to appear in San Francisco – he was just 32 seconds behind Van Riel and was the second fastest runner behind Wilde over the 18km closing leg.

Antonio Benito Lopez (7th), Long (8th), Mika Noodt (9th) and Rico Bogen (10th) will all be keen to improve in the standings with just two of the top six in Singapore set to attend, offering ample opportunity for a top-five finish.

Long in particular will be keen to see an improvement on his Singapore effort – the US star was outclassed substantially in the swim and was unable to reel in the leaders on the bike and run.

Geens eager to improve

IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens suffered a disastrous DNF in Singapore as he appeared to overheat on the run and admitted to suffering from stomach cramps.

The 32-year-old must not be discounted, however. Geens boasts three wins from his last four middle-distance escapades: T100 Las Vegas and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in 2024 and a 2025 triumph at 70.3 Geelong.

Jelle Geens T100 Singapore run 2025 photo credit PTO — Jelle Geens on the run in Singapore [Photo credit: PTO]

Four competitors making their 2025 T100 bows – Kyle Smith, Jason West, Morgan Pearson and Pieter Heemeryck – will also be ready to make their marks.

Smith, the 2024 runner-up in San Francisco, tallied a quartet of top-five finishes on the T100 Tour last year, but was unable to take the top step of the podium in any of his starts. Yet to appear in 2025 in any format, it will be interesting to see where his performance levels are at.

Pearson was set to debut in Singapore before a bike crash curtailed his involvement. The ‘Hotshot’ has one win from one race over the middle-distance and will be eager to test himself against the high-calibre field on show in California.