Reigning champion Taylor Knibb says the standard of competition in this year’s T100 Triathlon Tour will only add to her hunger for more success – and has also revealed a change in diet which she hopes will help her going forward.
Having lost her 100% record in San Francisco at the weekend, the 27-year-old American athlete admitted that while she was ‘missing a few gears’, there was still a long way to go in the season.
Olympic silver medalist Julie Derron (SUI) produced a stunning race to finally get the better of last year’s T100 champion, having lost out to her nemesis Knibb in three of last year’s races.
‘There is a very long way to go’
But Knibb, who has won the last three 70.3 Worlds and been pretty much unbeatable at middle distance in the last few years, is not about to press the panic button just yet.
“I’m actually pretty happy with the execution,” she said after San Francisco. “I feel like I’m just missing a few gears, and so it’s early season, and I’m grateful to be here and I’m grateful to be racing, and I’ll take it. Success for me is having the best race that I can on the day. You can’t control your competitors, and Julie put on a phenomenal performance.
“I trust my coach, and we are doing the best we can, and that’s all you can ask for. I mean, I have a lot of work to do, I think that shows, but I’m thrilled for Julie, and I’m excited for the rest of the race calendar. We have six-and-a-half months. There is a very long way to go.
“I see the challenges (in the field), it’s getting more and more competitive. I’m excited, so, I don’t think there’s anything more to say. We compete to bring the best out of ourselves and this is definitely gonna make me hungry.”
A conversation starter!
Knibb has also revealed how she is trying out a new dairy-free diet in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the GI issues that she suffered while winning the inaugural T100 World Championship in Dubai last November.
Explaining the situation via a typically engaging video post on her Instagram account, she said the incident – where she was forced to relieve herself during the final run – had also become something of a conversation starter!
“You know what happened in Dubai? It’s kind of funny, so I’m still working on that. I’ve been doing some work this winter. And my latest thing that I’m trying is that I am three weeks dairy free,” she said. “But one of the best things about that happening is people tell me stories now that are so entertaining.
“They’re like, ‘well, you did that… Guess what I did’. And it’s really cool. There’s not really another context where you could hear these hysterical stories. So, it’s an icebreaker because everyone knows what happened in Dubai.”
Next up for Knibb is T100 Vancouver on 14 June.
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