American comeback kid Sam Long revelled in his Lazarus-like riposte to finish second in the T100 Singapore.

Long was competing in the second stage of eight in the revolutionary new World Tour, pitting 20 of the world’s best triathletes against each other over 100km with $7 million on the line.

The 28-year-old charged from last on the swim stage to finish second, despite serving a 30-second penalty on the run.

“(It was an) excellent race,” said Long, who jumped across the finish line energetically, touching the top of the T100 arch basketball-style.

“Believe it or not, I was quite happy with my swim. I just paced it and focused on keeping my body temperature cool because if you get overheated there, it's a long day.

“I've always been known for biking strong, but I didn't really show that so much on the bike.

I think my bike was still impressive and strong and I got myself into the race on the bike but it's the run that I think I really showcased my strength and to be honest, I was just having a super fun day out there and just in my own zone, in my own process, in the flow state.

“And it just all came together. I tried not to think about what the gap was. On the bike especially you got to see everyone twice per lap, right? So it's very obvious.

“It really puts it right in your face how far back you are. But I actually said to myself: ‘Don't look at how far back they are, just execute your mission and see what happens by the end of the day.’”

In sweltering overcast conditions in Marina Bay, last-minute Wildcard Josh Amberger led the first lap of the 2km swim but Long left the water last with over four minutes to make up and was also given a 30-sec penalty for leaving his swim kit out of the box during transition.

“I think on the penalty… It's up to me on how to react to it," saig Long. "And I would say it didn't break my momentum at all. Well, there were two brief moments of panic. One was finding out I had a penalty. The second was figuring out where to serve the penalty because I wasn't sure and then the third was actually when the two guys behind me came by when I was in the penalty like ‘Oh no, now I'm back in a race. I'm not even on the podium right now’. But I just used it to compose myself and get the crowd pumped up and carry on with my day.”

Once on the bike, there was plenty of chopping and changing early on and Long began to rip his way through the field – making it into the top 10 with 20km to go.

Off the bike in eighth place with 3min 20sec to leader Youri Keulen, Long was fastest on the run course and made up 90 seconds by 12km to pick off the competition, overtaking Pieter Heemeryck to take 2nd place.

Long’s tenacious and powerful performance saw him match his performance from the T100 opener in Miami, bank another US$16,000 and add 28 points to his T100 series tally, putting him just one point behind Keulen.

“I just want to say thank you so much to the city of Singapore," said Long. "I've received such a warm welcome and it's been great to visit here and it's a marvelous, beautiful city. So thank you guys.

"I'm living my dream. I've come way farther than I thought I would come. Well, I thought I would come this far, but it's happened faster than I thought and to see the love that the crowd gives me just makes my heart warm and just makes me so happy.

"Of course to achieve an accomplishment like this, just twice in a month. It just makes me very happy and I'm riding the wave and don't worry, there is a crash at some point. It's probably coming in like 24 or 36 hours and then I will suffer for a little while.”