She’s One of the Sport’s Fastest Runners. The Key to a Successful T100 London Race Will Depend on How Daniela Kleiser Rides Her Canyon Speedmax

Photos: Kevin Mackinnon

Earlier this year we caught up with Germany’s Daniela Kleiser and learned just how she’s become one of the sport’s fastest runners – heading into this weekend’s T100 London race she sits as the top-ranked woman in the PTO’s Run Rankings, ahead of Laura Philipp, Julie Derron and Tamara Jewett.

At the T100 San Francisco race, Kleiser was 49 seconds faster than eventual champ Derron. (Although the Swiss speedster managed to outpace Kleiser at T100 Vancouver by 27 seconds.)

Kleiser was the fastest overall age grouper at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in 2021, then turned pro the following year. After she won 70.3 Valencia this year she got a wildcard invite to compete at T100 San Francisco, which set the stage for her running talents to be on display against the world’s top triathletes.

Kleiser struggles in the water, but once she’s on dry land she typically makes up time on many of the women ahead of her – especially once she’s running. Of course the day’s fastest run split only takes you so far – for Kleiser to contend for the podium her swimming will need to improve dramatically. And, while she’s not able to compete with the likes os super-bikers like Taylor Knibb, she is still ranked 27th on the PTO’s bike rankings. Her bike splits in San Francisco and Vancouver were enough to allow her to use her impressive run speed to a pair of 10th-place finishes. To move higher in the results this weekend, she’ll likely need to both swim, and ride, faster.

We caught up with Kleiser here in London to check out her Canyon Speedmax set up.

Kleiser’s wheel choice includes SwissSide’s Hadron Disc and the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DB.

Those are equipped with Schwalbe Pro One TT (rear) and Continental Aero (front) tires.

Kleiser has gone with the Canyon integrated Aero Bars.

Hydration is integrated into the frame, but Kleiser also has a BTA bottle and another behind her Sella Itlaia Superflow saddle.

Shimano Ultegra components are combined with Sq Lab pedals and a 4iiii crank-based power meter.

165 mm cranks, 52/ 36 front chainrings and …

… an 11/35 cassette round out the drivetrain.

Now the only challenge will be to keep smiling like this throughout tomorrow’s race!

The women’s race kicks off at 12 p.m. local time on Saturday, with the men following at 2:45 p.m. Click here to find out how you can tune in. The T100 Triathlon Live Data Dashboard is also available here.

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