You did a nice job illustrating how what could be perceived as a head to head aggressive move to preempt major competing events was mostly a giant nothing burger.

Not just which athletes choose what to race but more putting attention on the product. Are they here to compete with Ironman ( also itu o guess and super league ) which is race company or to show pro racing. I can’t figure it out as they change back and forth like the wind .

And I don’t get how internet clicks make them money ?

Theirs races are limited space and so few to generate the money to run the t100 prize purse?

They need major sponsors but then they would have commercials and product placement which we know the views hates as witnessed with Ironman .

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

I've never heard Sam say anything about commercials during broadcasts, but he has said over and over the intention is to sell the rights to the T100 series to a TV/streaming partner. They don't care about age group racing, but they do care about crowds so having an AG race helps to get bodies on the sidelines of the pro races.

I'm fine with ads/sponsors (especially if the broadcast is free) as long as they don't inundate us with cheesy sayings like the "Muarten Move".............................

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

If the sponsor gives you money to say x you say x that’s how sponsorship works , have you seen people pretending to drink ag1 and saying it’s good .

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Interesting, I don’t get the crowd thing as we know kona has barley a crowd and know one cares.

South Africa 70.3 worlds 2018 I never noticed if there was a crowd but it was an epic race and had great footage. I remember that

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Global broadcast:

• Shown on TV in over 120 territories
• Watch on Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe
• Watch on PTO+ and YouTube (free) in the rest of the world

.
.
Wow,that is some serious imagination you have going on there. I prefer to go to the source and find something I can quote.
From her IG
"
🚨Statement🚨

Regarding my comments about my race selection this year, see full statement in the image slides…

** In the past two days, I’ve gotten some inappropriate messages. Feel free to express your thoughts, but I ask that you remain civil **
10h .
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Immediately under that statement was Sam Longs message of support.
"Everyone these days is an arm chair quarterback. I’ve felt similar pressure and I’m not a World Champion. I can’t imagine all the thought that went into it but know that you made the right choice for YOU!"

I’m not saying internet trolls do not exist. What I’m saying is that it is likely her follow up statement reflects her genuine beliefs and desire to explain the switch to the T100 in a manner less damaging to IM rather than an attempt to appease trolls, who we all know can’t be appeased anyway.

To be fair to this, on the front page the IM CEO article doubles the number of views of the T100/PTO story.

Our forum skews more heavily towards the "pro geek" side of the equation which will be more interested in that T100 story. But from a general tri awareness...

...both are dwarfed by the USAT stories we ran.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Yeah but most forum members don't read the front page, and I did say it's a different sub set, but it's a bit like with power meters forum members had them way before the front page reader had them and no more front page reader have them. So the forum tends to be ahead of times to come.

Hello, Dubai resident.
Not sure if someone has answered this one. I doubt it will be in Yas marina (F1 circuit) as it is in Abu Dhabi. Race announced in Dubai. We are pretty pleased about this as we had some issues with Dubai 70.3 that was cancelled last year and not announced this year.

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Tridad

Just wanted to chime in on the Andretti thing and F1 (deviating from Triathlon).
Scandalous, Andretti deserved their spot on the grid!! pretty pissed about that even though not an American or indycar fan.

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Tridad

Gotta say the PTO did an incredible job locking down most of the best men/women. They got almost every woman & just a handful of men opted out. Going to make the Ironman Pro Series & World Champs interesting this year. Seems like the women's race in Nice will be very watered down. Same for the men in Kona. Seems like more athletes are targeting 70.3 Worlds at the end of the year. The Pro Tri News podcast was insightful. I like that it's not closed shop & that they'll be transparent about contracts. But it does feel like it'll be hard to get into the rankings since you're not lining up for the biggest races. I also thought Sam made some weird comments about what would happen if somebody gets pregnant. He started talking about how they won't let athletes abuse their contracts. I don't think that's the right word here.

I feel like they could build in some upward mobility by increasing the fields from 20 to 25 to 30 over the next few years. Something like that could allow for some new athletes to break in. It's going to be a lot of fun watching these races this year.

Listening to a few podcasts on the subjects, it's very exciting time. I finally feel like non-draft is going to have the best racing the best consistently, something that LC has really struggled with. Of course now it's double the fun with T100 + IM Series. I do cringe at all the narratives of trying to "double up" as that to me is just a recipe for poor results and/or injuries. I think the Miami race will be very much Daytona 2.0 from a race standpoint + broadcast standpoint as it's going to be all central located within the speedway property. Very exciting times.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I don't think anyone with half a brain would consider trying to have a top placement in both IM series and T100. But I think it's completely possible to commit to T100 plus race Kona/Nice (basically the season plan for Laidlow, Dietlev, RvB, Chevalier, Ryf, Haug, Philipp etc.).

So your half in half out on both series? Or your only "half in" on the paid contract so you can secretly focus on the IM pathway, so then your '25 PTO ranking/gurantee potentially suffers. This half brained idiot has got it. Thanks

Add up the races your looking at 6 PTO races to get the best score (which assume that's why they would take the contract). 1 IM or 2 70.3 qualifiers + then the world championships in said events of either 70.3 or IM. So they are looking at 9-10 races of "top" quality racing. Which is fantastic, and also a ton of "pressure". Which is what the WTCS has been like for years, every single race is a "world championship" quality event, so I just think this idea of hedging your bets on both series to maximize revenue/winning is going to be very very complicated.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I think you misunderstood. Not only me but also the ranking system(s).

Regarding PTO / T100

• Athletes I've named will do at least 6 out of 8 T100 races. The remaining 2 out of 8 give them a bit of flexibility to either not show up or train through a race.
• In order to get the slot for '25 T100 you need to be either TOP10 in T100 at the end of the season or the remaining TOP6 in the PTO ranking (basically be TOP16; this includes all races, not only T100).
• Due to the characteristics of T100 100km races, you need shorter recovery time compared to full IM. This enables you to explore outside of T100.

Regarding Kona / Nice / IM Series

• In the same time, doing Kona / Nice doesn't mean doing IM series, not even half-in. It's a one-off race.
• Due to the characteristics of IM series (3 full IMs are required for best scoring), you won't have spare energy to explore anywhere else if you commit to it.

It's a one-off race.

--------

They took out validation for the winners of IM and 70.3 now? I thought they still had to "validate" to gain their entry to this years world championship?
(I've not misunderstood anything)

To race IM as a validation it's: 1 IM or 2 70.3's

To race 70.3 as validation its: 1 70.3

So to get the "full" PTO contract according to sources you must race the full schedule. If you do less, you get less money, if you do less you also lose opportunities to offset/place hold/block others. So you can race as little or as much as you want as those guranteed athletes. The more you race, obviously the more travel + racing is on your body. So if you race IM WC as a validated athlete you are doing a min of 2 IM's more or 2 70.3 + 1 IM more on top of whatever PTO series races you actually decide to do.

Obviously the ones who decide "all in" on PTO will have a better chance at contract for following year + most amount of end of season money success. So unless you just show up and win 3 pto races and scratch the rest, the top 10 are going to almost assuredly be the ones who are "all in" on PTO. The ones who can win 3 times and skip the rest will likely best be positioned to grab that next 6 spots. I dont know that anyone is going to win more than a few who then also do "outside" race series at a top level imo, thus you'll likely be forced to focus on PTO if you want that '25 contract and the end of year bonuses.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Gotta say the PTO did an incredible job locking down most of the best men/women. They got almost every woman & just a handful of men opted out.//

As much as I'm enjoying the banter of who is going to do what race, do we know about the contracts that got scooped up by the 40 athletes? From the original rumors it seemed $100k was going to be the top tier, I wonder how many and who got those? Did the wild cards like Ali, Gomez, Spivey get the big ones, or was there some 2nd/3rd tier ones? Just doing the math from the race prize money and the overall series bonus, it looks like there was 3 million for these contracts. So I'm thinking maybe 15 of them or so at the #100k, and then some sliding scale..Has anyone who got them spilled the beans as of yet??


And as to who is and is not doing both series, I think the season and how athletes are doing will dictate that. You might have a plan to just do your 6 PTO races, but what if you crash out, get sick, just have a horrible day? Then you will need to add on as the season goes to hold a high place there, and could impact some Ironman race you thought you could squeeze in. And as Brooks pointed out, folks have to validate too.


But the thing is that the P100 races should be super easy to recover from physically, not much more than an olympic and less than a half. Folks do that in a week all the time. What is hard to recover from is the travel and stress of so many A races, that is what will grind on folks. I also dont see anyone trying to win or even podium in both series. But certainly many will hope to place top 5 in PTO and then by default of just doing a couple/few ironman events very well, get a top 4 to 7th place there. It is still good money all around and completely doable for a lot of the athletes. Hell, aren't a bunch racing this upcoming weekend in a 70.3 already, one down before all the madness even starts...

I’d bet almost every single T100 contracted athlete does one of Olympics/Kona/Nice/Roth/Taupo. Trying to do anymore than that seems unwise, but Sam and the PTO seem to be expecting all the athletes to have a major goal outside the T100 tour.

Monty, sounds like the PTO will be transparent around the contacts so we should have details over the next few months. Sam said they didn’t want to lead with that info, but it won’t be kept secret.

Well the Olympic athletes have already been given an shorter contract demands, and I get it. If you are in the 70.3 or IM validation role, your set. You can race the PTO, train/jog 2 70.3's and that will NQ (or train/jog an IM to NQ/KQ)

So like Sam Laidlow, no shit he's going to race all the big boy events, because his KQ is pretty easy. Just "jog" 'an IM or "jog" 2 70.3.

But my point is still not that you can or can't do it. It's that the T100 series is going to be top level of racing almost assured. There are going to be handful of guys who automatically are "all in" on it, and thus those guys will almost have any advantage over others who try and max out their race schedule.

So my point isn't a matter of can it or can't it be done. Of course a handful of pro's are going to race as many events as they can. I'm just saying we now have 1 and now with the IM series, 2 high level LC events that you just "jogging through it" isn't going to help with your PTO ranking for '25.



Years ago when WTCS changed their scoring policy, they removed the 1 day "world championship" to a series scoring system. It irked guys like AB because he was such a great 1 day racer, and also because AB frankly quit racing the "full series" after like '13. He would show up handful of times and skip races even if healthy cus it served no real purpose. So the athletes who race a full PTO schedule and score their top scores and then offset/block others will have a much better success than anyone who thinks they can race the "minimum" races so they can then go race other opportunities. That's what I think will end up happening here. And the hook is the guranteed '25 contracts that only 10 get. So those spots will be very very valuable to race for.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Looking at this from the contracted athlete viewpoint (and mostly WPRO).

For the IM-incapable (or unwilling) athletes (latter LCB, likely Knibb and possibly Simmonds and Lee) not an issue: crack on, fit in a 70.3 (if not done already) and race Taupō if body allows.

The top IM capable lot (Haug, Philipp, Ryf, Sodaro, Matthews, Moench) are contenders for the IM Series. Is any non-T100 athlete in the frame? Name them (WPro)?

Brooks has pointed out that anyone wanting to race IMWC will have to race an IM, either to get a slot or to validate. So you may as well do Texas (6 WPRO and that excludes the validators).
And racing Taupō will not affect the March to November season other than being 'a bit tired' from the Grand Final. But everyone in the top 10 will be in the same boat: they'll all have raced the GF in the "Middle East".

Therefore you have these women who can expect IM Series scores from Texas, Nice and Taupo. They need to fit in another IM series IM (Hamburg or other) and a 70.3. Sorted! (Ha ha!) And just weave in T100 100km races (March, June, July, September, October, November (drop one and race two easy eg ibiza after Nice) and finish off with the GF (13 days after T100 Dubai, same region). Fly to Auckland and race Taupō.

Gruelling but doable. Athletes will set off on this track and then modify their aims as they fail to achieve results or suffer injury/DNFs. And with both lobes of brain functioning: it's a professional choice.

T100 might be settled two-thirds through the season (by Gentle in Knibb's absence) and the GF being a coronation parade. LCB may have something to say about that. Much will depend on the Miami result: Gentle seems to start off slowly and build. But Knibb will come to Miami (I'm guessing, and with Spivey, both to get one of their contracted 3 in the bank) well down the Paris prep track and firing on all cylinders. Then disappear till Ibiza.
But the IM Series will go down to the wire at Taupō and will be between those who have raced top 6 at Nice.
Exciting times.

With this new T100 race series and bonuses, I am assuming that this replaces the annual bonus payout to the top 50 ranked pro?

If so, seems all the cash is concentrated on the elite 20!

Not so. The end-of-year PTO bonuses are set to continue as normal (and apparently with the same amount in total). I have not seen a 2024 revision distribution announced so assume 'no change'.
Athletes not contracted to T100 can get a few excellent scores, if they're good enough, in particular by finishing well in the IMWC (Diamond), the 70.3WC, WT LDWC https://townsville.triathlon.org/...-distance-triathlon/ and Roth (all Platinum). The latter two will offer less points because the SOF is certain to be low. Gold tier events (eg all the IMs in the IM Series and a few of the 70.3s) also offer good scores as the SOF (well surely for Texas, Hamburg and Frankfurt) will be high; and NB an additional 5% bonus for the best (not IMWC) IM.
I assume the scoring protocol will remain the same, with an athlete's ranking points being the average of their best 3 events and the scoring system for each race based on several factors: tier of race, SOF, position and time.
https://www.protriathletes.org/...orld-ranking-system/
Clearly theT100 twenty are likely to fill many of the top 15: they have at least 4 (some 8 or more) Diamond races to take their best 3 from so they will take the lionesses' share of the PTO EoY bonus pool monies.
To note the ranking list in December 2024 will be used to determine who gets contracts #11-#16 for 2025 T100.
https://t100triathlon.com/pro-series-explainer/