T100 World Championship 2024: Marten van Riel becomes first ever champ with win at inaugural Grand Final in Dubai
By Ben Southby
Published 17/11/2024 at 14:08 GMT
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Marten van Riel has concluded an exceptional season to claim his third win in four races at the inaugural Grand Final in Dubai on Sunday. The 31-year-old's victory on Sunday meant he wrapped up the campaign in style to claim the first ever T100 World Championship title. "I was trying to think not too much of the title and just try to perform as good as I could," Van Riel said after his latest win.
'The biggest of them all' - Van Riel takes win in Dubai and the championship
Video credit: TNT Sports
Marten van Riel has won the first ever T100 World Championship title in his debut season, after surging to a late victory at the inaugural Grand Final in Dubai on Sunday.
The Belgian, who was left devastated with a 22nd-place finish at the Paris Olympic Games, ousted promising German Rico Bogen in the late stages to conclude his T100 campaign with a win, and confirm his status as champion.
Van Riel, battling side-by-side with Bogen for large parts of the running leg in the searing Middle Eastern heat, broke clear of his rival with just under two kilometres to run.
He finished in a time of 3:09:17, while Bogen crossed the line 22 seconds later.
The 31-year-old, who has won three of his last four races, also led the earlier swimming and cycling legs to wrap up his title in perfect style.
“It was honestly really tough,” Van Riel said after the race. “Especially wearing that No. 1, because in my head I knew a podium place was good enough and if you have that in your head, it’s actually really hard to go for the win as well.
“So I was trying to think not too much of the title and just try to perform as good as I could on the day.”
Despite his strong finish, Van Riel said he was “definitely not in control” but felt confident as he approached the end of the race with some energy left in the tank.
“I could feel I had a couple of surges in me,” he added. “Rico is really good at keeping the pace high but when I put my first surge in and we dropped Kyle [Smith] I could already see he was suffering a bit.
“I knew that with a couple of kilometres to go, I was going to put in a big surge.”
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Two-time Olympic champion Alasdair Brownlee also delivered a late charge to make his first podium spot of the season, overtaking Kyle Smith at the tail end of the race to catapult him into the top 10 overall.
In an exciting finish, Smith battled with Van Riel and Bogen in a three-way lead, before the former cracked just inside the final 10km and lost ground on the leading duo, as they moved well clear in search of victory.
Brownlee could smell a podium finish and chased down Smith, and as the pair approached the final few kilometres, he had closed the gap to 10 seconds.
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'Oh no!' - Brownlee slips as he goes round a corner at the T100 in Dubai
Video credit: TNT Sports
As they turned a corner, Brownlee caught Smith and looked to make a pass, but slipped on some loose gravel and hit the ground. He quickly rose to his feet to stick with the New Zealand athlete.
Brownlee eventually passed him with just over a kilometre to run, and as he did, Smith seemed to accept that Brownlee was not slowing down and conceded defeat to the legendary Brit.
Brownlee’s heroic efforts meant he climbed into the top 10 of the overall standings and will be given a contract for the 2025 season.
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