Orcas steal the show at the T100 (well briefly)

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There was a competition among mammal fans at the first T100 Vancouver tri on Saturday, and the orcas delivered.

Taylor Knibb took control on the bike and never looked back, holding her lead through the run to secure a convincing win.

The swim had a tight pack, led by Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay, Dutch star Maya Kingma, and Jess Learmonth. Knibb and her American teammate Taylor Spivey were close behind, all within 11 seconds of the leaders. Derron fell behind early, coming out of the water ninth, 2:40 behind the front pack. Canada’s Paula Findlay was 13th out of the water. And the killer whales (we hate this word—they’re adorbs!) showed up to support the race. Thankfully, they weren’t hungry for salmon, seals, or sea lions—oh my!

On the bike, Knibb quickly surged to the front with Learmonth, pulling away from the chasing group and leaving Charles-Barclay and Kingma more than two minutes back. Derron struggled even more, trailing by over five minutes near the end of the bike leg. Knibb and Learmonth entered T2 with a commanding lead of nearly five minutes. Findlay also made gains, riding strong to sit eighth and narrowing the gap by nearly a minute.

Knibb extended her lead early in the run, holding off Learmonth while Derron made a powerful charge to take third place. Despite Derron’s push, Knibb stayed strong and crossed the finish line more than two minutes ahead. Learmonth was caught by Derron in the final stretch, while Findlay’s run effort placed her 10th overall.

Check out some footage of this incredible moment when mammals cheered on mammals after having a great day. (Good thing it wasn’t right after the pro men finished, or I’d have to make some sort of terrible mammal/MAMIL joke.)

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