India Lee: ‘I was struggling to pay the bills before my T100 contract — it saved my career’

From almost quitting the sport to finishing the 2024 T100 season in eighth place overall, India Lee’s last 12 months have been transformative, to say the least. We caught up with the top Brit just before she flew to Singapore to talk health, wealth and whether Kona is for her or not… 

India Lee has raced almost every major race series that tri has to offer – World Triathlon, 70.3, Ironman, Challenge and T100. But it’s in the latter, the Professional Triathletes Organisation’s new-for-2024 format, where the 36-year-old Winchester-born pro has found her home. 

In the first race of the new series, Lee was the surprise winner. But the result proved to her that “anyone can have their day”. Yet despite the overall success of her inaugural season, and being one of the more versatile British women in multisport, it wouldn’t turn out to be Lee’s day at her first-ever Ironman World Champs, in Nice in September, where a DNF has left her with some, potentially, unfinished business. 

But right now the focus is 100% T100, with Lee talking to us just two weeks before her first race of the year in Singapore, where again she was hoping for a better outcome from 2024, having toed the line still recovering from a chest infection. (Sadly it would be another DNF in 2025, as illness once again interrupted her progress.) 

220: How’s your off-season been? 

India Lee: It was great, thank you. I had a good chunk of time off in December – a combination of planned end-of-season/year break and a couple of bouts of illness. I started training ‘properly’ again in January, kicking the year off with a training camp in Lanzarote with a small group of friends. The latter part of January I was in Loughborough with my coach, Sam Proctor, doing some heat prep protocol testing. Then we went back out to Lanzarote for a longer stint of three weeks to get some more quality work done. 

220: How was your first session back? When was it and what was it? 

IL: My first session back (after a few weeks of aerobic work) was a hills session at the start of January – 10 x 1min hill with a jog back down. The first few sessions back always make me question if I will ever feel race fit again. It felt a long way off at that point! 

220: Sum up your first season in T100? 

IL: It went a lot better than expected. Starting the year with a win [in Miami] meant that it was going to be a successful season for me no matter how the rest of the year panned out. I’ve really enjoyed the race format and competitiveness of the races. Each one has been a different dynamic, with the variety of courses and conditions offering something different each race. 

220: Did you have a particular favourite course?

IL: I really enjoyed Ibiza. I love non-wetsuit sea swims, the bike course was fast but rolling, and the run was through the old town with lots of twists, hills, and the atmosphere created by the supporters was amazing. 

220: How do you feel you’ve evolved as an athlete over these last 12 months?

 IL: I’d say I’m generally much stronger all round. I have more confidence in myself and my ability. That has come from surrounding myself with the right people who believe in me and allow me to thrive. 

220: With one season under your belt, what if anything will you change for the 2025 season?

IL: My main goal is to stay healthy. My Achilles’ heel is illness; last year my biggest downfall was getting sick too often and at the wrong time. I showed when I was fit and healthy I was competitive at the front of the T100 races. Training-wise I’m just building on what we did last year, no major changes. But the biggest priority is consistency and staying healthy.

220: What are you most looking forward to about the new season?

IL: Racing the new roster of athletes that have come into the T100 – lots of Olympic-distance athletes are stepping up and I think that’s going to change the way the races go, so I’m excited to be part of that. Everyone is on my radar, though. I think there are the obvious few at the top of the rankings who will always perform well, but my result in Miami last year showed that anyone can have their day and you shouldn’t write anyone off. 

220: What’s your schedule looking like for the year? 

IL: It’s mainly based on the T100 series, with a 70.3 in April to try and qualify for the Marbella 70.3 World Champs [on 8 November]. Then TBC on an Ironman in June. I’m 18 going to see how the first few races go, and whether I have the courage to try [qualifying for the Worlds] again. I have some scars from Nice that I still need to get my head around. 

220: Any answers as to what happened in Nice [Lee pulled up just before the 5-mile mark on the run]? 

IL: Yes, I knew exactly what happened in Nice while I was racing. I was terribly homesick and emotionally exhausted. I had spent too much time away from home and family before the race, thinking I was preparing to my absolute best for the World Championships. But I just overdid it. Not the training, just the time away from my core support crew. It took 24 hours to process the disappointment. I got on a flight home the evening of the race and saw my family and my dog and then felt human again. I was frustrated with myself with the situation. I knew that I like being at home, but I was also trying to get to the start line of the World Championships in the best condition possible. Anyway, it’s a lesson reinforced for the future. 

220: Tell us how important getting that T100 contract was for 2024?

IL: It was massive for me. Halfway through 2023 I was preparing to stop triathlon because I couldn’t afford to continue. I wasn’t getting the results and I wasn’t enjoying it. I was training very well but I would fall apart in races because I was putting too much pressure on chasing a result. When the T100 tour was announced, I thought that would be my opportunity to have another year in the sport, so I entered the last Ironman of the year, Florida, to try and get enough points to climb the rankings to the top 16 and get a contract for the 2024 season [Lee finished second]. I just scraped in and that changed everything for me. It gave me some financial security where the result of a race didn’t matter as to whether I could pay bills that month. The contract meant I could go away on training camp to prepare properly and also buy some much needed equipment. 

220: If you had had to quit, what would you have done instead? 

IL: A lot more coaching!

220: You’ve had a fantastic run of success across all formats, is it safe to say T100’s your favourite?

IL: T100 has been my favourite format so far. I enjoy it because being a better swimmer actually counts with the faster Olympic- distance swimmers coming into it; the bike is a 20m draft rule so it’s fairer; and the run is a little shorter than 70.3, which I prefer with that being my weakest discipline. I’ve had good experiences in the other race formats, too, but for some reason the competitiveness of the T100 really appeals to me.

220: How has your short-course career helped prepare you for T100 racing?

 IL: There are lots of skills that I learned in short-course racing that I’ve been able to use in the longer races, which if you go straight into 70.3/Ironman racing you just don’t get the chance to develop. Particularly in the swim and transitions. Swimming in a pack/ getting round buoys quickly is something that’s really important in short course. As well as fast transitions. But then racing Ironman also teaches you the importance of fuelling and pacing because if you get it wrong, it really shows. I feel fortunate to have been able to experience a lot of different scenarios, and if I’ve got something wrong in the past I really try to learn from it. 

220: Back in 2022, we asked you what motivates you to swim, bike and run every day. You replied: “I don’t think there is just one thing. Some days it’s because it’s my job and I have to do it. Some days it’s because I absolutely love it and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. Other days it’s a combination of both.” Is that still applicable in 2025?

IL: I’m in a much healthier place psychologically than I was in 2022. Something I can only identify with hindsight. I feel so so fortunate to be in the position I am and I love that I get to call triathlon my ‘job’.

220: You were also just about to race your first Ironman, in Israel, and you said: “Saying I’m looking forward to it is maybe a bit of a stretch. I go through waves of being super excited then terrified thinking it’s so far and I can’t cope.” How do you feel about the full distance now?

 IL: It’s still daunting to me! I did Israel to tick a box – I went into it wanting to come away having had a good experience and to want to do another. Then in 2023 I did Ironman Florida, I went into it much better prepared and wanted to be more competitive. Which I was and, again, I loved it. I do have a strong desire to race Kona, whether I try for that this year or next year, I’m not sure yet.