Despite her last-minute entry into the race, she finished with a time of 3:41:48 over the two-kilometre swim, 80-kilometre bike, and 18-kilometre run.
The Ironman vice world champion bounced back from disappointment last week at Ironman Hamburg, where a disqualification due to overtaking in a prohibited zone prematurely ended her race.
“I think there was something special about this; I had so much energy from my dramas last weekend and maybe a good long taper actually suits me,” said Matthews post-race. “I've just got back to a level playing field, like a sort of redemption of my own personal performance, so I'm still now desperate for that personal satisfaction to go higher.”
Matthews made no mistakes this time around. She rode the currents in the point-to-point swim in San Francisco Bay just off the coast of Alcatraz to come fourth out of the water, recorded the second-fastest split on the six hilly loops of the course despite a dropped chain, then ran a minute faster than eventual winner and Olympic contender Taylor Knibb.
This is the British star’s first finish and first podium on the T100 Tour circuit, as she had suffered a calf tear while racing the Miami leg in March.
