So is the Townsville long distance not going to be the WT Long Distance Championships? T100 could have incorporated it somehow. It is two weeks after Olympics and before the next T100.

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Yeah,it is totally unfair that the USA only got three races.....Those PTO bastards!!!

That's a good call, especially for the guys not really in the T5 type of "on air" racing action. Sam I believe described the "contracts" as essentially marketing jobs, so I think the athletes will have to show up to get paid over the year, but I do wonder how "motivated" the athletes middle of pack will be. Like are they all in on it, or will they do what so many are theorizing.....how to figure out how to race both series to get the most out of it; and will that eventually "hurt" the T100 brand. Years ago, IM implemented a rule that in order to get paid you had to be within X position. The pro's sorta created run arounds of it that made it sorta a mockery of the rule- I beleve 1 race leader stopped 100m and ate a bag of chips so the time gaps let everyone get paid, maybe even did the "winners" interview before actually finishing if I recall correctly. IM I believe took that rule away a year or 2 later. So that'll be an interesting angle to follow.

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

well people like tom bisop mika nood mathew marquard jan stratman kyle smith in one way or another would feature. bishop and nood have led pto races solo and i would not put it beyond mika nood to win one of them 2024. i do like it that they have alistair as he is a disrupeter for swim and bike and gomes makes sense for the spanish market

sara perez is an athelte that is always intersting in the female race lucy buckingham leads out a lot of races sarah true, caroline pohle and lisa norden would all be interesting athetles.
and i guess you would like to have somebody from brazil . big triathlon tv market , like pam olivera that has a top swim and to increase the tv market and while i don not want to limit numbers from countries like in itu i guess it would be good to have an asian athlete in the series

The Ironman 70.3 brand was launched in 2005, so this is the 20th year of the brand.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Cool. It still sucks.

What would you call it?

WTCS is also a downground from WTS.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

i still call them half ironman ....

it'll always be ITU to me

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

I dunno, I'm not in marketing.

I felt that calling it "Ironman 70.3" and "Ironman 5150" started the devaluation of "Ironman" from the classic long distance race.

LCB spills the beans probably inadvertently. Grand Final will be in November in “the Middle East”.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I think they also said it in the Sam Renouf interview on PTN

Why did you reply to me?

LCB said in her video that she’s not defending her Kona title and may only do a couple of 70.3s because her “heart and her passion” is in the T100. If you’re IM, that has to hurt. The extremely popular reigning Kona champ basically says your races are an afterthought.

But she also said she will defend in Kona & that is the top of the triathlon world. She was doing a promo for the T100 series. You don't think the script of that segment was influenced in any way?

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

She's just like every other Ironman AG bucket lister. One and done vs Won and done.

Well, she did get the tattoo.......................

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I think someone like Salthouse, Herring, or Sala would want to crack the top 20 or top 16, if for no other reason than the guaranteed money of a PTO contract. The question of how someone not invited to the T100 can gain ranking points is also relevant for those currently in the top 16. If someone has an injury-plagued season, or an off year, they might drop off the list. How do you work your way back on? I assume you get points for IM-branded races, but I’m not sure of the relative weight vs. T100 races, so I’m unclear as to how hard it is to climb into the top 16 if you’re currently on the outside looking in.

Sure, i imagine it was somewhat scripted. But if I’m Ironman, what difference does that make? It still sucks. The reigning champion does not consider the upcoming world championship
a real world championship and won’t even commit to the 70.3 WC. That’s just a terrible look for IM.

You know what's not a terrible look for Ironman? In one of the shots in that video, you can clearly see the Mdot tattoo on her ankle!!

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I think someone like Salthouse, Herring, or Sala would want to crack the top 20 or top 16, if for no other reason than the guaranteed money of a PTO contract//

Of course they would like that, but if you look at the list, they are not top 16 out of that group. They are part of a group just on the outside and will have to really make a jump in race placings to get that coveted spot. Like you, I dont know the weight of Ironman racing, but have to imagine placing on the podium of the big races will be worth a lot of points, certainly more than perhaps a 10th at a PTO event.


So this is their chance, most of the top ladies sitting out the ironman series, so they can really show their stuff. If not, then they dont belong there anyway. Yes there will be more points in the PTO races overall, but of course the best racers will also be there too. I suppose we will see pretty soon, be interesting to see what an Oceanside win points wise will be compared to say a top 5 in that first PTO race. In my mind it should be about par with 4th or 5th there, but who knows at this point. Does anyone know how this years rankings are going to be tabulated? Is quality of field gonna be a factor?

The PTO still isn’t sure how they are going to handle pro participation from year to year. They recognize that having a closed league is not desirable but they haven’t figured out how pros will be able to work their way in when there’s 0 chance anyone not on the T100 tour will have enough points to qualify.

Actually yesterday on the T100 website the Final was written as Oman Finals, i can't find it today so not sure if it was a mistake or not

Looking at the starting list there are very few weaker swimmers only Long and Chevalier will team to race from the back, i hope that the coverage manages to show that part of the race which can make for the long bike part which can be boring if only the front of the race is shown

Drawing on Renouf's interview on PTN and the shared 'explainer'
20 athletes are contracted. 16 auto-qualified for a contract offer based on PTO Ranking: a first 10 earlier (hence Lawrence Kanute and Neumann) and the balance (of 16) in December, rolling down as necessary. Then they offered 4 contracts to other notables (various criteria). Watkinson, Spivey, Duffy and Byram took those 'Hot Shot' contracts. All to race 5 (or 3 if racing Paris) plus GF.

Start number limited to 20, so 140 starts plus GF. Contracted athletes at minimum will fill 94: assumes Knibb, Duffy and Spivey race Olympics (I really hopes she gets the USA nod: deserves it and to reverse poke Luis (who won't)).

This means there'll be maximum 46 'wildcard' slots (likely less as several will do 6 of 7 and a few 7 of 7) so say 28 slots. Divided between 7 races that's average 4 wild cards per race (will be few in Miami and plenty in emetic Singapore). A chance for a Sanders cameo in the southern CA race in June?

By mid November the scores (best 3 or ?4 results) will be on the doors. All those contracted will have a Grand Final start slot. In addition, every athlete who has benefited from one or more wildcards and scored more points than the last contracted athlete will be given a start. GF scores more. World Champion and T100 Series ranking determined on an athlete's best 4 scores.
https://t100triathlon.com/pro-series-explainer/
PTO Rankings: All races will be Diamond (only other is the IMWC). PTO Rankings remain best 3 on a rolling 365 day basis with EoY bonuses paid on EoY rankings. Clearly it's easier to score highly on the top races in a field where the top athletes (well at least 5) start. Miami WPro SOF looks to be as much as 95.9 which means that #3 will get you about 96.5 (Knibb 2023 score ranked #3 was 96.3) and an athlete in #10 (10 minutes down) would score about 85 (cf Lawrence 2023 on 83 and was ranked #22).