Previewing the PTO’s Season Kickoff at T100 Gold Coast: Good News and Bad News

As the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) embarks on an ambitious journey towards next year’s Triathlon World Tour, there will be lots of eyes on this year’s T100 Series, which is set to kick off this weekend in Australia’s Gold Coast. The event, which is set in the spectacular region just south of Brisbane that’s famous for it’s long, sandy beaches and inland canals and waterways, will feature a women’s-only pro event and a sold out age-group race.

Here’s what you need to know about this weekend’s race, including how to watch the pro racing:

Bad News: Big Names Out

OK, let’s get the disappointing stuff out of the way. Originally part of the Gold Coast field were T100 Triathlon World Tour champ Kate Waugh, Olympic silver medalist and PTO World Rank #2 Julie Derron, along with Aussie favourite Ashleigh Gentle. Those three are all out now – the first two due to injuries, while Gentle has announced that she’s pregnant.

That leaves American Taylor Knibb as the prohibitive favourite heading into the race and, while she’ll still face some stiff competition, it’s hard to describe this field as “the world’s top 20 female triathletes.”

Here’s the current start list:

If Knibb arrives in anything like the form she showed a few years ago when she dominated every T100 race she entered, Saturday’s race could be pretty boring. (Remember that 2024 season when Knibb dominated the T100 series and took her third-straight 70.3 world title?) With last year’s focus on Kona, though, Knibb wasn’t nearly her dominant self, taking one T100 win in Vancouver along with a pair of podium finishes in San Francisco (second) and London (third). She hasn’t raced since her runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds in Marbella last year, so it will be interesting to see where Knibb is at as she gets the 2026 season underway. (My bet is very fit and very motivated.)

So who could we see pushing the American at the front of the race this weekend? A lot of eyes will be on Imogen Simmonds, who is back for just her second race since accepting a finding of no fault after her provisional suspension after testing positive for ligandrol metabolites in December, 2024. Simmonds competed at the T100 Grand Final last year, where she was 17th, but is likely to be much more of a factor this weekend. As will home-country favourite Ellie Salthouse, who had a fantastic 2025 campaign that included a win at IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast and an impressive fourth at the Quatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final.

Spain’s Sara Perez Sala and Lotte Wilms are likely to provide some swim company for Knibb during the first leg of the race, and both are traditionally strong cyclists, although Wilms is coming off a third-place finish at IRONMAN New Zealand a few weeks ago, so it will be interesting to see how her legs have recovered. Add Belgium’s Hanne De Vet to the mix during the cycling leg, too – she ended up as one of the higher-ranked cyclists on the T100 tour last year. You can also add to the mix Olympians Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS), who started her 2025 season with three half-distance wins and finished one spot ahead of countrywoman Salthouse at Challenge Sir Bani Yas to start this season, along with Kiwi Nicole Van Der Kaay, who started her season off with a win at the Tauranga Half.

Good News: Sold Out Age Group Race

The 100 km age-group race in Gold Coast sold out in just nine days last year, a great sign for the series as it continues to build on its age group racing. Last year there were almost 30,000 athletes who competed at the T100 triathlon and “shoulder” events, so starting the year off with a sold-out crowd is very encouraging for the new series.

According to the PTO, there are almost 2,000 people signed up for the long-distance race, and once you factor in the 10 km and Olympic-distance triathlon, there will be almost 5,000 age group athletes on hand for the event – an impressive start for the inaugural race.

The weekend also includes an Olympic-distance race and a 10 km run, both of which still have spots available.

How to Watch

The T100 Gold Coast race will be available to watch on TriathlonLive.tv and also on the T100 YouTube channel (except in Europe). You can see the full list of regional broadcasters here.

The broadcast begins at 13:30 local time (23:30 pm on Friday EDT), with the race starting five minutes later.

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