Lee earns statement victory as T100 World Tour gets underway in Miami

India Lee compared her Miami T100 triumph to an out of body experience after topping an all-British podium with a career-best performance in the new global triathlon showpiece.

Lee led home compatriots Lucy Charles-Barclay and Holly Lawrence to claim the maximum 35 points on offer in the first race in the rebranded T100 World Tour, which consists of a 2km swim, an 80km bike ride and an 18km run.

The 35-year-old stormed past Charles-Barclay with 11.5km of the run to go and held firm to claim a landmark Stateside success.

“I’m speechless,” she said. “It feels like I’m watching myself in a different entity. It’s mad.

“Throughout my triathlon career I’ve been frustrated how my run has turned out because it’s been a bit average to be honest.

“But I know I had it in me to be able to run well. On one-off runs I can run well. In my head it was just a matter of time to put it together.

“This is the first time that I’ve had a run that I’m actually proud of.

“It’s the first race of a long season so I’ll celebrate it and not get too far ahead of myself.”

Charles-Barclay, who became an IRONMAN world champion for the first time in 2023, led after the swim and bike legs only to be reeled in on the run.

“I’m pretty chuffed with that and I can definitely build on it,” she said.

“It was an amazing day for the Brits, I’m super happy for Indi. We have got some really ‘badass’ women in the UK and in this series you’re hopefully going to see the Brits dominating.”

Lawrence, 34, completed the podium, with Lucy Byram in sixth, while Alistair Brownlee saw his challenge fade in the closing stages of the men’s race earlier in the day.

The double Olympic champion started strongly and was electric on the bike leg, which involved 22 laps of the Homestead-Miami Speedway track in 31°C heat.

But Dane Magnus Ditlev timed his late charge to perfection on the run and took victory, with Brownlee ending in fifth.

“The heat got to me,” he said. “In the heat, you've got to control yourself and obviously don't hurt yourself over that red line.

“Maybe at points in my career, I would have gone past that red line and tried to hang on. But not at the moment in March, when there's seven more races to do. I'm not going to do that anymore.

“I wanted a solid race here. I would have liked to have been on the podium, and I was pretty close to that.”

The T100 World Tour now moves to Singapore, with the next races taking place over the weekend of April 13-14.