Great Britain’s Kate Waugh stunned the field in her T100 Triathlon World Tour debut as the ‘Hot Shot’ produced a sensational performance in all three disciplines to claim victory in Singapore on Saturday.

The 26-year-old was in touching distance of the front throughout the event. She exited the water seven seconds behind compatriot Jessica Learmonth before setting the pace with her British rival on the bike leg.

Waugh then dominated the run, recording the fastest split of the entire field to claim a stunning victory in a time of 3:45:18 – winning by 6:40 from Austria’s Lisa Perterer (3:51:58) in second and 7:51 from fellow Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay in third.

The former World Triathlon Championship Series U23 Grand Final champion has certainly put the sport on notice with this scintillating display, with the Gateshead-born talent leading the ‘Race To Qatar‘ after race one of the series.

Swim – Brits string it out

Waugh was in contention from the off as she sat on the feet of leaders Learmonth and Charles-Barclay in the two-loop swim. As the lead group slowly whittled down from nine to five on the second loop, Waugh maintained her position at the head of the field.

Learmonth exited the water first in a time of 26:23 ahead of Charles-Barclay (26:25), Switzerland’s Julie Derron (26:26), Waugh (26:29) and American Taylor Spivey (26:32).

2024 T100 runner-up Ashleigh Gentle was in the second group out along with Tokyo Olympic champion Flora Duffy 55 seconds back, with a third group – Hannah Berry and India Lee – 90 seconds off the pace.

Bike – Learmonth and Waugh take command

Waugh took position around 20 seconds behind Learmonth throughout the 80km bike leg as the pair put some distance into the rest of the field.

The duo put over three minutes into the majority of their rivals, with Perterer the only other athlete able to match the times of the front two as she was able to advance from 13th up to third.

Down the field, a quartet of stars were forced to call it a day early – Bermuda’s Duffy, Finland’s Minttu Hukka and the British pair of India Lee and Lucy Byram unable to complete the race in the challenging conditions.

There was further drama on the course with New Zealand’s Amelia Watkinson taking a tumble. She did, however, manage to gather herself and gain nine places heading into the run.

Learmonth (2:05:29), Waugh (2:05:35) and Peterer (2:06:20) set the standard on the bike, with the likes of Charles-Barclay (2:09:17) and Berry (2:08:54) setting themselves up for a top-five finish.

Run – Waugh dominates, Learmonth blows up

The two leading contenders suffered contrasting fortunes early in the run. It was clear in T2 that Learmonth was suffering from the effects of a tough bike leg, while Waugh glided through to take the lead.

Kate put time into the field through the first of three loops, and continued to press the accelerator throughout. Learmonth, meanwhile, blew up early on the run and dropped down the field in some distress.

This allowed Perterer and Charles-Barclay to leap into the top three, while Berry continued her strong day as she closed in on a top five finish. Another star performer on the run was Spivey who was the second fastest in the entire field at 1:10:51

But all plaudits go to the middle-distance rookie, who was a class above on her T100 debut recording an 18km run of 1:10:37 – 14 seconds quicker than American star Spivey.

T100 Triathlon World Tour Singapore

Saturday April 5, 2025 – 2km / 80km / 18km

PRO Women

• 1. Kate Waugh (GBR) – 3:45:18 (26:29/2:05:35/1:10:37)
• 2. Lisa Perterer (AUT) – 3:51:58 (29:19/2:08:20/1:13:41)
• 3. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) – 3:53:09 (26:29/2:09:17/1:14:29)
• 4. Hannah Berry (NZL) – 3:53:35 (27:51/2:08:54/1:14:07)
• 5. Taylor Spivey (USA) – 3:54:39 (26:32/2:14:28/1:10:51)