PTO drops final T100 series date and announces championship final
The PTO has issued an update about its T100 World Series, with one date being dropped and another becoming the Grand Final. Here's what you need to know...
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has today confirmed that it’s dropping the eighth date of its T100 World Tour and making T100 Dubai the Grand Final.
Given the final was initially proposed for the last weekend of November, the news perhaps comes as no surprise considering the minimal time left to secure a location and sell entries to age-groupers, if that was indeed the plan.
Announcing the news, PTO CEO Sam Renouf said: “It has always been our ambition to crown our first T100 Triathlon World Champions in a spectacular race at an iconic location.
“Given the huge interest we’ve seen in Dubai from both the local and international triathlon community, we have decided that Dubai will give the first year of the T100 Triathlon World Tour the series finale it deserves.”
Stumbling blocks
Whether or not that sounds like things are being sugarcoated is up to individual perceptions, but it’s clear organisers were facing challenges.
Renouf himself admitted as much, saying: “While we originally planned for an eight-race series in 2024 and had been exploring some exciting potential venues, a combination of lining up all the approvals and those locations not being quite ready to hold an event befitting the T100 Triathlon World Championship Final made the decision to move the final to Dubai an easy one in the end.”
The PTO says that T100 Dubai will be its largest event of the year, with over 10,000 people signed up to a range of races being put on across the weekend.
Impact on pros
One of the big questions raised by the news is how this plays into matters for the pro athletes contracted to race a fixed number of events.
At the start of the year the PTO contracted some 40 triathletes to compete across the T100 series, with many of those being required to compete in five T100 events, plus the final.
Contracted athletes who also competed at the Olympics were required to race in three T100 events, plus the final.
As a result of today’s news, however, those athletes will see those requirements reduce by one, making it four events and the final for non-Olympic athletes.
Meanwhile, contracted Olympic athletes who have yet to race a T100 event this year will only need to compete in two events and the final, with the average score from those first two delivering a ‘third race’ score ahead of T100 Dubai.
The T100 series so far…
- Miami T100: India Lee wins the women’s race; Magnus Ditlev takes the men’s win
- Singapore T100: Ashleigh Gentle beats Lucy Charles-Barclay to first; Youri Keulen takes tape in men’s race
- San Francisco T100: Marten Van Riel and Taylor Knibb secure wins
- London T100: Gentle takes second T100 win of the season; Sam Laidlow wins men’s race
Still to come…
- 28-29 September: Ibiza T100
- 19-20 October: Lake Las Vegas T100
- 16-17 November: Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final
Don’t want to miss any of the action? Here’s how to watch the T100 World Series.
Rob Slade
