There was no stopping wildcard Youri Keulen as the Dutchman stormed to victory in the second round of the T100 series in Singapore.
The first non-contracted athlete to win a T100 event, the 25-year-old former track runner must have ensured starts for the remainder of the series as he built on his fourth place in Miami to move to the top of the overall standings.
USA’s Sam Long – second in Miami and a week on from the same result in Oceanside 70.3 – emerged last from the swim before putting in the day’s best bike and run splits to finish with another runner-up spot.
Belgium’s Pieter Heemeryck came second here last year and showed his liking for the conditions and course in Singapore by rounding out the podium.
The was a welcome fourth place for GB’s David McNamee, who produced one of his trademark late-race surges to pip Kiwi Kyle Smith. But there was further disappointment for Alistair Brownlee, who was in contention coming off the bike before withdrawing with an ankle complaint.
"As soon as I hit the ground off my bike, I pulled something in my ankle and I started running and I thought it kind of went away," Brownlee explained. "But when I started running again after I stopped, it got really sore and I can hardly walk now."
Nineteen athlete took to the start, with T100 Miami winner Magnus Ditlev pulling out ahead of the event after fracturing his wrist in a training crash.
While the heat and humidity always promised to make it one of the most challenging stopovers in the eight-race series, the brutal conditions were further underlined when an exhausted Keulen was hauled off the medical tent at the end of the race after collapsing on the blue carpet.
"I executed my strategy as planned," Long said, who leapt to touch the finish gantry as he crossed the line. "I was the first land animal out of the water when everyone else is a fish, but if I'd swum harder I would have overheated and my race would have been over.
"I'm here because I love this. The T100 Tour is a brilliant tour and I'm having the time of my life with my peers, competitors and rivals and I can just soak up the energy."
McNamee was ecstatic with his fourth place which left him ranked eighth in the standings. "I was more than shocked," he said. "After Miami, I was struggling to know whether I could compete or not at this level and this distance.
"I’m more known as a long course athlete but there’s something about this distance I really love even though physiologically it’s not my strongest, especially now I’m a little bit older.
"My aim coming into this year was to try and finish the season top 10 of the T100. I think that’s a realistic, but tough target and that’s what I’m aiming for as the year goes on."
Singapore T100: What happened in the swim?
Australian Josh Amberger, whose partner Ashleigh Gentle won the women’s race, is renowned for his swimming ability, and he led through the first 1km lap of two to the Aussie exit pontoon.
There wasn’t much of a split at this point, with just two athletes, Leon Chevalier and Long, distanced at the rear of the field.
Aaron Royle pushed into the lead to be first into T1, followed by Amberger and Smith. But the majority of the field were all within a few seconds of each other as they ran into transition to start the bike leg.
Long was the final athlete out of the water, his challenging start to the day compouinded by picking up a 30sec penalty for not stowing his equipment properly in his transition box.
Singapore T100: What happened on the bike?
While Sam Laidlow set the pace early in the bike, it didn’t last long as the reigning Ironman world champion, who placed ninth in Miami, pulled out for the second year in a row in Singapore citing stomach issues.
Brownlee was far less aggressive than usual and was happy to sit back in the paceline that contained half the field until Keulen made a surprise break and the Yorkshireman laid chase.
Further back, Long was holding the pace of the leaders as he maintained the 4min gap and started reeling in the rest of the field.
The leaders were full of wildcard athletes including Mika Noodt, Smith, and Kacper Stepniak, with the dangerous Jason West still in contention halfway through the 80km bike leg.
Approaching T2, Keulen was clearly having a good day and showed no sign of letting up the pace and arrived in transition more than a minute ahead of the chasers following a 1:48:05 split.
It was just a few seconds slower than Long, whose fastest race split had already moved him up to seventh. Brownlee picked up a 30sec penalty for overrunning the line after cutting his dismount too fine
Singapore T100: What happened on the run?
Keulen looked controlled from the outsset of the three-lap 18km run as the immediate threat behind dwinldled.
Brownlee struggled, later saying he felt an issue with his foot on the bike dismount, and was forced to pull out midway through, with the charging Long continuing to pick up places throughout.
The usual flourish from West didn’t materialise as he faded to finish 14th, but there was a striong finish from McNamee, who delivered the day’s second best run split to work his way up to fourth - his best 100km result in PTO racing to date.
Singapore T100 2024: Top 10 men's results
- Youri Keulen
- Sam Long
- Pieter Heemeryck
- David McNamee
- Kyle Smith
- Mika Noodt
- Aaron Royle
- Kacper Stepniak
- Fred Funk
- Josh Amberger
Top image credit: PTO
