Probably more "TBA" in terms of they have most stuff lined up, just trying to finish T&Cs. But I also think they didn't want to miss another self-imposed deadline...

Gonna be a good year to be a pro triathlete in 2024.

Very curious to see what they put together for an age group experience. (Edit to add -- seeing as it's the weekend before my wife does IM California, it's probably going to be VERY frowned upon for me to wind up at Lake Las Vegas. But that might be the best shot...)

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Not a lot of big names missing. On the men's side, the Norway boys and Lange. Any other surprises?

Neumann is a bit of a surprise for taking a flyer.

The six race mandatory thing is going to make it tough, IMO, to nab an IMWC qualification, and peak for IMWC, with the amount of racing surrounding it. Not impossible, but tough.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Very excited to see Taylor Spivey in the list. I’ve been waiting for her to give it a go at middle distance.

Womens field is far stronger and more interesting than the men.

Will also be interesting to see the injury rates for these athletes. That is a lot of very hard racing plus at least one Ironman and two for many of them over a very long season.

Great schedule and great pros they signed. I am looking forward to watching. Also excited to see if they make a show like 'Drive to Survive' for streaming. I would love to attend one of these events as an age grouper, but nothing quite works out with my schedule for this year. Next year for sure though.

Ibiza is the week after the Ironman Championship in Nice. Looks like most of the top women are committed to the T100 series. As noted, that is going to be interesting. Will be interesting to see who shows up on Nice.

Renouf interview available (30 Jan, 1100 CST):
https://podcasts.apple.com/...ri-news/id1559781865
"The majority of the venues are 3 to 5 year deals"

I think it's more likely the PTO fields are poor on the women's side at Ibiza and on the mens side in Vegas. Or those athletes that raced will just go through the motions to clock one of their six races.

Two other thoughts:

1.) LCB announces she won't defend IMWC at today's press conference, will only race in Kona. That's not super shocking given her injury history -- but I'm sure IM is going to be a little perturbed at that.

2.) As a self-proclaimed golf nut, all I think about with that T100 name -- Titleist irons.

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Does this mean Marten isn’t going to the Olympics?

I was also surprised not to see Hayden’s name here, but I imagine he’ll get a start at every race he wants after Paris. Same for Kristian and Gustav.

One would think for them to be able to announce London they had pay a bit more than they wanted ,as it would look like it was a last minute thing.
One would assume Abu Dhabi will be on the formula one circuit which is a great course .

I guess the only thing that is missing is a race on the euro landmass

Super female field

Do we know race price money and season bonuses ?

asianzone wrote:

It’s a very good program, PTO did a great job with so much flexibility, only need to commit to 5 races (including grand finals) which gives athletes a chance to do an IM or Roth, and qualify for W.

I disagree. For one its 6 races (5+GF) so little flexibility other than athletes participating in the Olympics also (3+GF). But my major gripe is that the California race has no location & no date and the Grand Finale has no location. It literally could be anywhere in the world..............

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Athletes going to the olympics have special contracts and don't have to race the full slate of races

It's in the front page story.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

As for point 1 that is quite a hit for ironman is this the first time since mark alen went to Nice that an ironman world champ snubs the race ?

In a way, this may be a message being to sent to IM (not purposefully). If the women's race was in kona this year, would LCB's decision be same? I don't think this was the sole reason, someone mentioned her injuries, but you have to think the race being in Nice was a factor in her decision.

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Neumann was highly ranked (ie top #10) when PTO did their first cut in August (same as Lawrence was).
Agree tough. And those with an IMWC AQ will have to validate (only Ditlev has so far of the ?13 AQd).
PTO have annotated the Ranking list showing those contracted to T100.
https://stats.protriathletes.org/rankings/women
https://stats.protriathletes.org/rankings/men
Pleased to see Byram and Duffy taking contracts; note no Langridge.
Renouf: "the Grand Final will have more points. . . . the final stage in the Middle East".

Perhaps true. But looks like LCB has announced she won't be going to Nice. Also, with that commitment from the women to the T100, I'm curious who is going to be committed to the Ironman series. Does it seem like the women have spoken and they are going with the PTO? I may be missing something, so interested to see how the analysis and announcements come out.

I thought PTO World Tour was a better name.

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I would guess world triathlon butchered that.

I don't hate the rebrand because, if you're going to play aggressively in the age group space (which they have to with the World Triathlon alignment)...PTO doesn't work.

Tri100 might have worked. (Also an easy tie in to some first-timer programs you might work). But someone in the UK already owns that for their "100 Olympic distance tris in 100 days" thing.

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I remember some folks talking like Nice was going to be the crown jewel in the Grand Final series, guess we can put that to bed now. Virtually all of the women here were/are the contenders for that championship, and they have now chosen to either not do it, or make it just another race. in their year.

I love the fields they have put together, gonna be some very exciting racing for sure. Sam Laidlow is a tiny bit of a surprise, but perhaps not really. He is going for the guarantee and now just has to do the shorter 100k races. He has not shown consistency in the past, so he probably is making the right decision here. Still gets to pitch up for Kona, one race that can make your whole season.

Love the addition of the ITU ladies, seems the protests of the lack of money in ITU is finally taking hold. Can't wait to see how Spivey translates her superior bike power into a TT. All those ladies will be in the front of any race for quite sometime, maybe until the end. Several that can swim on Lucy's feet, so no more solo off the front type races.

And I really hope Ali and Javi can get back to their old form, both those guys could be there at the end too still I believe. IF Jan can win one of these against the best at 42, then age shouldn't be a factor(besides the obvious getting injured more easily)

So is the CA race going to be in Malibu? One would think they didnt pony up that $300k for nothing. That would be fun to watch, perhaps a few more loops that normal, but with such small fields and the new draft tracker, should be fine...If it were not an olympic year, I would say this is the top series on the circuit. Certainly on par even with the games happening...

Sam said that there were some things about PTO that don't work - like in the States, it means paid time off for almost everyone. I think it was a Formula 1 type rebrand - trying to make it special and while it's not perfect, it will shortly become part of "the narrative" I think and we won't think much about it.

We all hate change. haha

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!