Amelia Watkinson overcame stifling conditions for her best ever T100 finish in Singapore.

The 32-year-old New Zealander finished fourth in the far east, putting a disappointing swim leg behind her to narrowly miss out on a podium finish.

In the unrelenting heat, underlined by a DNF from Miami champion India Lee, Watkinson was pleased to make it to the finish in a time of 3 hours 52 minutes 3 seconds.

“I’m happy with fourth as that’s my best result at any one of these events,” she said.

“There was a group of us that had a fairly decent deficit out of the swim but a lot of us were decent runners and bikers.

“On this race in particular, the heat can really get you and I guess we all counted on that. 

“I didn’t have the bike I was expecting, but you have to keep pushing right through and I think I grabbed a bottle at every single station, tipped that over me and kept on pushing.

Aussie Ashleigh Gentle made the perfect start in the defence of her T100 title, overcoming Lucy Charles-Barclay in sensational fashion on the run to snatch top spot.

Els Visser claimed an unlikely third, 25 seconds ahead of Watkinson, who despite recording the second-fastest run time behind Gentle, says she tired as the humidity took hold.

“On the run I faded at halfway and took a few walking steps around the aid stations to keep cool because if you don’t it bites you,” added Watkinson.

“Last year I did a block in Asia before this race and I didn’t do that this year, and I think we got a hot day this year and I felt it.”