As you say, between contracts, race prize purse and Tour EoY Standings bonus, the totals were similar in 2024 and 2025. The total described for 2026 is ‘only’ $4.2M (8+2 races @$275k and the $1.45 EoY Standings bonus).
I’m sure the excellent per race prize purse will encourage the top Ironman athletes to double dip. For example IMNZ and T100 Gold Coast. And synch in T100 Vancouver to their Kona build.
As an aside I think you may be overdoing the “heavy bias on T100 events in the PTO rankings” bit. Nearly all the top ranked 15 WPro have at least one non T100 score (in their best 3) and those with none are the ?4 full on T100 leading element (Waugh, Derron, Gentle, Byram have all not qualified for Marbella). That the top 10 in the T100 standing are also well up in the PTO Rankings is unsurprising: they were in the top 25 last year (hence contract) and have raced well in seriously competitive races.
I will cross-link to your article in the T100 Series/Tour 2026 thread.