Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron made a winning return from injury last weekend and now has her sights set on what should be a thrilling T100 finale.
The Swiss star, runner-up behind Cassandre Beaugrand in Paris last summer, has made a superb step up to middle and long distance racing and had hoped to compete at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona for the first time last month.
She qualified for that by winning IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz by nearly 40 minutes but a slower-than-expected recovery from a bike crash in the lead up to the French Riviera T100 scuppered those hopes.
However she was back on the start line in Malaysia as she won IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi on Saturday, her third victory of the season.
Racing in 33°C tropical heat, Derron clocked 4:13:52, defeating Australia’s Natalie van Coevorden (4:18:11) and France’s Justine Guerard (4:22:17).
Derron heads to Dubai and Qatar
And that should set her up perfectly for a tilt at the T100 title in what’s a closely-fought battle at the top of the women’s standings.
There have been no fewer than five different winners so far from the seven races.
Kate Waugh won last time out to in Wollongong to put herself in pole position. That was her second victory of the season and took her ahead of the other two-time winner Lucy Charles-Barclay – with Ashleigh Gentle, Derron and Taylor Knibb the others right in the mix as the table below shows.
| 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 |
Enhanced points (55 points for the win rather than the usual 35) are on offer in the finale Qatar but it remains to be seen who makes it to that as Charles-Barclay and Knibb were both DNFs when leading the way in brutal conditions at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.
Derron, who inflicted a first-ever T100 defeat on world number one Knibb in San Francisco earlier this year is looking to first boost her points tally in the last regular-season race in Dubai.
Speaking after the Langkawi win, she confirmed: “I’ll be racing the T100 in Dubai in two weeks, and then we have the grand final of the series in Qatar in mid-December.”
Olympic update
Looking back on her recovery, she added: “Unfortunately I had a bike crash in the middle of August. It wasn’t too bad, but the recovery just took a bit of time. I took things slow, focused on healing, and now I’m really glad to have had a few good weeks of training – and a solid race here to see where I’m at and to build forward.
“It was quite a last-minute decision to come to Malaysia, but I’m so glad I did. It was a great event. I haven’t raced in a while, so I was curious – and honestly, a bit nervous – about how it would go. But I’m really pleased that I had a good race out there.
“The conditions were pretty tough, and the course itself is very demanding, but I think I was able to show a solid performance across the swim, bike, and run.”
And there was also a significant update from her regarding the future. For although she’s already in the top five in world middle and long distance rankings after five victories and numerous high-profile podiums in the last couple of seasons, she will still be racing short course too.
Asked if she plans to race at the next Olympics and bid to go one better than Paris, she answered: “Yes, the plan is to aim for Los Angeles 2028. But we’re taking it year by year, just trying to improve each season. I had a great Olympic experience this year, and I wouldn’t mind going back for another one!”