Kate Waugh is now in pole position in the women’s T100 standings but she hopes all the big guns make it to the Grand Final in Qatar.
It’s been a fascinating battle all season for the women – with no fewer than five different winners so far from the seven races.
Waugh’s super-impressive victory in Wollongong at the weekend was her second of the season (Singapore was the other) and took her ahead of the other two-time winner Lucy Charles-Barclay – with Ashleigh Gentle, Julie Derron and Taylor Knibb the others right in the mix.
All to play for
Enhanced points (55 points for the win rather than the usual 35) are on offer in Qatar but it remains to be seen who makes it to the season-finale.
Charles-Barclay and Knibb were both DNFs when leading the way in brutal conditions at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona recently, while Swiss star Derron missed that event as she wasn’t fit enough to do herself justice following a bike crash.
And speaking after her emphatic success in Wollongong, where she pretty much led the whole way, rising British star Waugh said: “I never expected any of this, but I’ve gained so much confidence. I’m just enjoying every race, and am so so happy to have two wins and have podiumed every single event. It’s just kind of crazy and yeah, it’s just been so fun so far.”
‘That’s what everyone wants to see’
In terms of staying in top spot, she added: “It’s going to be a hard one and I hope the girls who raced last weekend are recovering okay because they look like they had tough days out.
“It would be really great to have a really strong and competitive race in Qatar. I think that’s what everyone wants to see.”
And Gentle, who for so long was the queen of T100 / PTO events, put up another great performance on home soil in second but admitted she was never really close to Waugh.
Gentle said: “She is just on another level at the moment. She swims so well, is extraordinarily strong on the bike, and just probably ran the fastest run split today too [Waugh did indeed have the full house of fastest splits].
“So it’s really hard to compete with the level that she’s racing at right now so full respect to her and so many of the women that are racing at that real top-level.”
Fingers crossed that all of the top five make it to Qatar fit and healthy – it should be some race to savour if so.
Latest overall standings
| Position | Athlete | Counting races | Series points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kate Waugh | 4 | 128 |
| 2 | Lucy Charles-Barclay | 4 | 119 |
| 3 | Ashleigh Gentle | 4 | 107 |
| 4 | Julie Derron | 4 | 96 |
| 5 | Taylor Knibb | 3 | 90 |
| 6 | Jess Learmonth | 4 | 86 |
| 7 | Lucy Byram | 4 | 73 |
| 8 | Hannah Berry | 4 | 71 |
| 9 | Paula Findlay | 3 | 66 |
| 10 | Ellie Salthouse | 4 | 60 |
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