The Las Vegas date was Oct 19-20 on that leaked page. //

Well then that would make for a really tough double, race Vegas, get on a plane to Kona, then race again with travel and a 100k race in your legs. It certainly would be possible, especially if you were in a position to pull the plug in the 100k, but not ideal for sure. But I assume Vegas will just be one of the series races, so likely you will be allowed to miss one or two races and still be in the series running. Do we know what the contractual commitment to the PTO series is yet? Can't imagine it is "all" races, but likely "most"...


Maybe Rudy is also thinking that Kona does not suit him like Nice does, so not putting a lot of eggs in that basket..

They should put one in Australia in November for those making the trip to NZ in December.

Kona-Oz-NZ would be a cool trip for pro's and age groupers alike.
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At least from the content I've seen Rudy put put, his goal is to win Kona some day considering his family history. I could see him training/tapering through the Vegas PTO and trying to roll into Kona. Last week before Kona, do some intervals, don't dig too deep, etc.

Take the money and race and let the chips fall where they may. Not a terrible flight to jump on a plane in Vegas Sunday before Kona.

Not as tough as Nice and seven days later needing to rock up at Ibiza (bonus: only a short flight away, hope the bikes get there, possible for a road job for them).
There will be good points earned at the latter for the middle distance only athletes: Knibb (first battle of the Tour with Gentle (assumed)), Findlay, Pallant, Jewett, Lawrence - as 2/3rds of the best will have 226km in their legs.
I, too, assume that the contract will require competing in X (most) of the 100km races (where 'X' < 8, so allowing 'misses' from choice or otherwise) and the series will be decided on the best Z scores (where Z<X).

Ya there are going to be a lot of scheduling challenges for many of the cross over pros for sure. How many PTO races one can skip is going to be crucial too. We saw last year what happened when some (like Blu) tried to back to back some big races. In my day we did it all the time, but todays pros are having a much harder time with that. Bigger, deeper fields make it tough to be off just a few % and still get a good place. And it doesnt help that todays pros are more prone to getting sick, just the way of the world now too.

And I think that a few races in we might see some ship jumping too. If the PTO is not going well for some and they get a good Ironman place here and there, I could see some soft peddling in the 100k to focus more on the Ironman series. Gonna be fun to follow all of the different venues, do we know yet if Super League is going to be right in the mix too? If they can avoid the ITU olympic cycle here, they could get a big bump after the games are done too. 4 different series from super sprint to Ironman, gonna be a fun season to be a fan. Just hope we can watch them all without too much trouble, good time to be a pro for sure...

If I take some of the tweets from the media seriously. Since PTO is claiming to go full on transparency. These contracts will not be demanding exclusivity or even a full season. There is a way for them to play "nice" with WTC while also locking in specific access. Also, if you require less races for a contract then that contract doesn't have to be at 100k to command the exclusivity...but also you can contract more athletes.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Scheduling and back-to-backs Blummenfelt was just over-ambitious (as well as suffering the widespread Singapore belly) - and that was majority opinion, I think. Paris and either Lahti or Singapore: but assume dollar crazy. Listening to the excellent ST pod with West I was struck by a few anomalies. If West was all in on the 70.3 Worlds (as per pod) why oh why did he race Singapore? $$ But in the pod he said that one needed to really focus on the important races. Maybe that's a 'lesson identified'. The 100km Tour final and Taupo will be max 3 weeks apart (because of the late date for Kona - PTO will recognise their mutual interest with (about) half the PTO contract men who want to race Kona).
In 2024, the non-long distance athlete has 'no problem': 'just' race all the 100km Tour races and slip in a 70.3 qualifier to secure a slot to start Taupo.
For those trying to double up the first half of the season (ie March till July) is a serious challenge.100km races (contractually required to race every month(ish)) plus two IMs (Texas and another), and slip in a Taupo qualifier/IM series 70.3. Yes: glass slippers will surely be worn for several races.
The second half of the season will be equally challenging with Nice (or Kona) and several more 100km tour races before Taupo.
Super League will I assume be September/October so assume any SC post Olympics athlete who is 100km capable will have to choose between accept the odd 100km wildcard or Super League.
Maybe the PTO will contract Iden, van Riel and Luis to race all the post-Paris 100km races. Luis might get to race some earlier given he has minimal chance of Olympic selection (unless both he soars and Bergere is injured in the spring).
Still don't see any current top SC women who might be successful competing in the 100km Tour post-Paris, besides Knibb. A couple of the experienced Americans perhaps, who don't make the Paris cut? But is there the will? Løvseth?
For those in Europe viewing is straightforward: Eurosport for Super League, triathlonlive.tv for all SC, PTO Live (free) for 100km races, Outside for 70.3s and Youtube for IMs (I assume all the 18 IM Series races will be IM's top priority for live broadcast).

Can you imagine the disaster of Singapore if Blu and West didn't show up? I think Gustav was only there because they were desperate for some name power even though he clearly wasn't ready. I'm assuming PTO pushed hard to get people there to race. It's a real shame because Worlds will always be Worlds. Milwaukee, Singapore, Malibu, Vegas, etc. Will never be Worlds. They'll be great paydays, but the PTO approach definitely waters down the desired effect. They are supposed to do a championship race though right?

I keep hearing people mention some sort of PTO Grand Final so yeah I think there’s one of those, but I thought they were naming a series champ so not really sure how that’s all gonna shake out.

Have to agree with you. When you have 6-7 or 5 races a year, it’s hardly a world championship! The Olympics is so special because it happens once every 4 years and Kona/Nice, once a year. It’s hard to have the same allure when it’s a monthly event

PTO should have their own 100km world champs maybe ?

The 100km Tour is a genuine 'world' series, with a grand final as the last race (surely November). The winner will be crowned World Long Distance Triathlon Series World Champion in exactly the same way as Lewis Hamilton and the newer bloke were F1 Series 'World Champions' in F1 car racing or Potter, Duffy, Bergère, Coninx in WTCS.
"The World Triathlon Championship Series is World Triathlon's annual series of triathlon events used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. There are multiple rounds of competitions culminating in a Grand Final race. Athletes compete head-to-head for points in these races that will determine the overall World Triathlon champion."
Are you saying that because in short course the title of World Champion is awarded on a set of races it's therefore "hardly a world championships"?

IRONMAN declare their annual race in Kona (or Nice) the IM 'World Championships', which is fine, but if always in one place doesn't give athletes for whom those conditions are less suitable a fair chance, and fails year after year (hurrah for the Nice option in this respect; less so allowing the LD triathlon family to all race together: could do that if both men and women raced at Nice). It's also a keystone of their commercial model (for amateurs from whom the exorbitant 'pay on qualifying' entry income flows).

The Olympics offer a quadrennial 'single day/week championship' of the highest repute. But a season-long worldwide series will identify the true best athlete: it will reward consistency (as opposed to a single location, one day a year performance) and deter 'exceptional preparation' btw. Additionally, the 100km tour will force all the best athletes to race one another multiple times: great (and rewarding) for the athletes and great for those looking on.

Vegas, baby
https://protriathletes.org/...-fabulous-las-vegas/

If they wants a good scene for TV, Lake Las Vegas won't be it. A step up over a Dallas office park, but not by a lot.

I've stayed there and biked the area and swam the lake. Not sure what else you're looking for.

The course will be totally fine, but there won't be any crowd out there to speak of, which make a big difference is how the event looks on TV.

The "crowd" will be the age groupers watching before or after their race. We'll see what they get registration wise, but I'd guess most of the people who would sign up for a PTO race would have some interest in watching the pro field. Now, it will be a very watered down pro field on the guys side with Kona the week after...

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

That worked in Milwaukee where you had a massive multi-day festival and central downtown location. We’ll see if it works here in a suburban area where lots of athletes will undoubtedly be staying on the Strip and the field size, even if it fills, will be much smaller.

Doubtful.

Not all athletes will choose to do every race in series am sure. Vegas being after Olympics would hedge a bet wildcards go to some ITU folks to spice it up.

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

I really thought that rumored date was too stupid to be real.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

Fine for the women. And Ibiza (last w/e September) will be an ideal warm-up race for the men (and a warm down for the <10 IM-capable women on the 100km Tour roster. Expect some of the world's top SC athletes at Henderson dipping toes (if not on Super League duties).

With Nice, Kona and Taupo to try to avoid direct clashing with, what 'really sensible' date would you choose, Eric?
With (if) 8 races to schedule March through November remember. May seems the only other month (with Singapore already in April).
Do you want athletes to race in stupidly high temperatures? Or be b****y freezing in and out of the water and first hour of bike? For me: neither.
Considerations: September daily average high 32C, November daily average low 9C.

Spring? Without knowing their full schedule its hard to say, but especially if the rumor that Malibu will be a PTO race is true then they are crowding too much into Sept-Oct that also have Nice and Kona.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

Agreed you may not get the Ironman kona top athletes but now you pull a large itu group before they go to New Zealand.

West, and long, Gustav vs Blum , Luis, Hayden etc. before worlds 70.3.

Good last podcast lots of good stuff there.

Each pro will need to set up a blue print of the big days and not all will chase the same.

Unfortunately for us as a viewer not all big names will compete to their fullest in the biggest stage all at the same time in long course possibly , Paris yes next year , long course maybe not ever again???

Will be years of forums “sure they won nice for the 2 nd time but x didn’t race that one …. “

We knew with kona , that’s it, that’s the only one we crown! Now lots more variables.

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

May would work, as said.
The Zuma Tri is on 14-15 Sep so a week before Nice, and only 2 weeks before Ibiza. I don't believe it will feature in 2024 (well not on that date). But as ? said upthread, the PTO support for it may be a longer term play for 2025 and beyond (with an eye to the increasingly bright lights of LA28).
March: #1 ? (Clash Miami has to be a shoe in - see upthread)
April: #2 Singapore
May-August: Three races
September: #6 Ibiza
October: #7 Las Vegas
November: #8 Final somewhere

Have they said in interviews or print media that there will be a "Final" race or will all races basically count the same?

Also what was the connection WT is allowing PTO to name an AG "PTO Distance" world championship approved by WT? Is that still the plan?

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

#8 Final is going to be Oahu, home to the original Ironman. You heard it fabricated here first!