The Women’s Race in Qatar: Who Can Win the 2025 T100 World Titles (and How They Can Do It)

Kate Waugh stands atop the T100 standings heading into the last race of the season. Photo: Professional Triathletes Organisation

The T100 Triathlon season is set to come to a close on Dec. 12, and there are six women who are in contention for the second world title in series history. Great Britain’s Kate Waugh is on top of the standings, but the world crown is far from locked in as she enters the final race of the year. Here’s a look at who could leave Qatar as T100 world champion, and how they can do it.

The T100 Scoring System

Before getting to the athletes, let’s have a quick lesson on the T100 points system. Including the year-end finale, there are nine T100 events, but so far, athletes have only retained points from their four best performances this season. Their final points tally will include those four races and whatever they score in Qatar.

The scoring through the first eight races of the year was standardized, with first place winning 35 points and 20th (there is a cap of 20 pros at each T100 race) earning just one. In Qatar, however, those totals will be boosted, and the two winners will receive 55 points. This gives even more athletes a shot at the world title, and it means that everyone will have to race hard to the line if they want to retain, or improve on, their current ranking.

Here is the full scoring system:

The T100 series has offered athletes more than $7 million in contract deals and prize purses in 2025, including the close to $3 million that will be awarded after the year-end rankings are locked in. First place in the series wins $200,000, and even 20th overall gets a nice pay check, as they will take home $20,000.

The Women’s Series

Waugh has had a tremendous season on the T100 tour so far this year. She has raced six times and not missed the podium once. She took wins at the season-opener in Singapore and at T100 Wollongong in October, and she finished second at the penultimate event of the year in Dubai last month. Thanks to these stellar results, she heads to Qatar in first place with 128 points.

Switzerland’s Julie Derron sits in second place, a mere six points back of Waugh thanks to a pair of wins in San Francisco and Dubai and second- and fourth-place finishes in Vancouver and London, respectively. Waugh’s compatriot Lucy Charles-Barclay owns third place in the standings with 119 points after taking wins in London and Spain, finishing third in Singapore and fourth in Vancouver.

Derron has a great opportunity to take the T100 world crown in Qatar. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

There are two other women on the start list who are in contention for the overall series win: Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle (107 points) and Great Britain’s Jessica Learmonth (96 points). Taylor Knibb, the 2024 T100 world champion, has 90 points on the year. While this would put her in the race for the T100 title (a long shot, but still mathematically possible), she is not on the start list for Friday.

Waugh’s Path to the Win

Waugh will, of course, win the T100 title if she wins the race in Qatar. She can still become world champion even if she doesn’t win the race, but with every lower placing in the final standings it becomes more and more difficult. If she finishes second, the only person who can beat her is Derron — and only if the Swiss star takes the win.

A third-place finish could still lock up the title for Waugh, but only if neither Derron nor Charles-Barclay win the race. Finishing in fourth would mean Waugh would need Derron and Charles-Barclay to both finish third or worse to take the title. Fifth- and sixth-place finishes would still leave the door open for a Waugh world title, but only if her two closest rivals in the series standings finished fourth or lower (if Waugh finishes fifth) or fifth or lower (if she finishes sixth).

Waugh could still win the world title if she finishes lower than sixth, but she would need both Derron and Charles-Barclay to fall significantly lower than either of them are expected to place in Qatar. It’s possible, but if Waugh wants to ensure a world championship, she’s going to need to finish in, or around, the top quarter of the field.

Waugh finished second at T100 London. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Derron’s Route to Victory

Derron’s title hopes hinge on her finishing no worse than fifth. It is still technically possible for her to win if she finishes sixth, but in that scenario she would need Waugh to finish 14th or worse and Charles-Barclay to be outside of the top 12, and even if both of those things happened, Derron would still lose the title if Gentle finished on the podium or Learmonth won.

As already mentioned, a race win would put Derron over the top and into first in the series rankings. Second for Derron would give her the series win, but only if Waugh finished off the podium (if Derron is second and Waugh is third, Waugh will eek out a one-point win) and Charles-Barclay didn’t win. A third-place finish means Waugh needs to finish fifth or worse and Charles-Barclay third or lower. If Derron finishes in fourth, Waugh and Charles-Barclay will need to be sixth or worse, and fourth or worse, respectively, and if Gentle wins, she would leapfrog Derron for the win.

Finally, Derron’s last real chance (albeit still quite unlikely) at the series title lies in a fifth-place finish. In this case, Waugh would need to finish seventh or lower, Charles-Barclay fifth or worse, and Gentle second or lower.

Charles-Barclay’s Chances

Charles-Barclay essentially needs, at the worst, to finish fourth if she wants to win the T100 world crown in Qatar. Like Derron’s odds, a lower result is mathematically possible, but a lot would have to happen in order for it to work out in her favour.

The easiest path to victory is, of course, a win. (If Waugh finishes second behind Charles-Barclay, they will be tied in total points, but the T100 rules state that in the result of a tie in the final rankings, the win is awarded to whichever athlete placed higher in the World Championship Final.)

Charles-Barclay won T100 London in August. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

If Waugh finishes fifth or lower and Derron is third or worse, a second-place finish will be enough to secure the series crown for Charles-Barclay. Third place to Charles-Barclay would bring Gentle into the mix, but the Aussie would have to win the race in order to take the overall season victory. Charles-Barclay would also need Waugh to place sixth or lower and Derron to be fourth or worse in this scenario.

Charles-Barclay’s last real shot at the series win comes if she crosses the line in fourth. If that happens, the title is hers as long as Waugh finishes seventh or lower, Derron fifth or worse, and Gentle or Learmonth do not win.

Can Gentle or Learmonth Come From Behind?

Sitting 21 points behind Waugh, Gentle will only really have a shot at the win in Qatar if she finishes on the podium. If she wins the race, Waugh has to be fifth at best, Derron fourth or lower and Charles-Barclay third or worse. A second-place finish to Gentle means Waugh, Derron and Charles-Barclay must finish no higher than eighth, sixth or fifth, respectively. Finally, third place for Gentle means she will need Waugh, Derron and Charles-Barclay to finish 10th, eighth and seventh.

Gentle has had a great season, but it will be tough for her to take the T100 title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Learmonth is 32 points back of the T100 lead at the moment, so even a win in Qatar will leave her with long odds to secure the overall title. If she wins the race, she will need Waugh to finish ninth or lower, Derron to place no higher than seventh, Charles-Barclay in sixth at best and Gentle to be third or worse.

It’s mathematically possible for her to win the series title with a second- or even third-place finish, but she would need the top four women in the rankings to all perform well below the levels they’ve shown throughout this entire season.

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