Manx triathlete Will Draper rounded off his best T100 performance to date with a sprint finish for 11th place overall in London over the weekend

The Isle of Man athlete was challenged by Ironman world medallist Sam Long to the line, but the 25-year-old Manxman had enough speed to hold off the American.

It sees Draper improve on his 15th-place finish on T100 debut in Vancouver, as he also claimed the title of best of the Brits.

Draper came out of the 2km swim in 20th place before moving himself up into 13th on the bike, which consists of eight 10km laps, with Long over two minutes behind him.

The American began to close him down on the run as he posted one of the fastest times of the day, but was not able to stop Draper in a foot race.

‘It was really tough, it is never the most enjoyable way to end a race, but great to get the crowd going,’ Draper said afterwards.

‘I know Sam has a lot of fans here and I came in as the first Brit, so there were a lot of people cheering for me out on the course. I’ve watched Sam do that with Lionel [Sanders], so it is cool that it is my turn. It is pretty cool to come out on top as well.

‘I could see Sam closing on the run, he is a great runner and I actually wanted him to close a lap earlier because he is also a great block for the headwind.

‘He came onto me with about 2km to go and he attacked a couple of times. I managed to go with him and, with 500m to go he said: “Let’s do this fair, side-by-side".

‘I am from a bike-racing background, so I thought not everyone likes to play it fair, but you know what, let’s do it.

'We came in side by side, and I managed to get the inside line through the final bend and opened up a sprint. I guess I am still only young, so I have still got some speed in the legs.’

Jack Hutchens came home five minutes after Draper as the second-best Brit in 15th, with Harry Palmer a place behind him.

Draper added: ‘Originally, I was the only Brit as a wildcard, and then Harry and Jack were later added, which is great.

‘I wanted to see more guys that are so deserving - we are all racing against each other at super high levels.

‘My goal was input-focused, so I wanted to swim, bike and run as hard as I could and use who I had around me and race Sam, in the end.

'I was just focusing on doing what I could, and I’d love to compete against those guys and see them do really well, it is definitely not a rivalry as such.’

- For information on how to register for the 2026 London T100 Triathlon on July 25-26 next year, visit www.t100triathlon.com

MILLY MCEVOY/SPORTSBEAT