World Triathlon and PTO Team Up for Triathlon World Tour, Eye Close to 100 Events in 2027

Triathlon Forum
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Originally published at: World Triathlon and PTO Team Up for Triathlon World Tour, Eye Close to 100 Events in 2027 - Slowtwitch News

World Triathlon and the PTO announced big changes on Saturday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

World Triathlon and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) made a big announcement on Saturday, detailing plans to launch a new series of events in 2027 with what they will call the Triathlon World Tour. The Triathlon World Tour will combine existing T100, World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) and World Triathlon Cup events, along with new races that will be announced in the coming months.

The T100 Triathlon World Tour and the WTCS have been a successful pairing so far, with the two series linking up for two race weekends this past season. The first came in the French Riviera in August and the second at the WTCS Finals in Wollongong, Australia, in October.

In 2026, the only WTCS and T100 events that will overlap are races in London, which are slated for July 25 and 26. However, unlike this yearā€™s racing in France and Australia, the T100 event in London next summer wonā€™t feature a pro race, so the only elites racing that weekend will be on the short-course side.

Hayden Wilde won the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour title on Friday in Qatar. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Moving into 2027, it will all change, as the WTCS and World Triathlon Cup systems will get a T100-style makeover. The WTCS will be rebranded as the T50 World Championship Series and the existing world cup events will join what the PTO and World Triathlon are calling the Challenger Series.

Challenger events will be used as a feeder system for athletes to work up to T50- and T100-level racing. World Triathlon Cup races are all short-course events, but when they become part of the the Challenger Series in 2027, they will be open to three distances of racing: T100 (100 kilometres in total), standard and sprint.

All in, the new Triathlon World Tour is expected to feature around 100 races around the globe every year, with multiple new events set to be named in early 2026.

London will host T100 and WTCS events in July 2026. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

ā€œOur successful collaboration with the T100 Tour has already shown what is possible in terms of event delivery, broadcast audiences and commercial interest, as well as through the events we have trialled together in the French Riviera and in Wollongong in 2025,ā€ said World Triathlon president Antonio Arimany in a press release announcing the news. ā€œThis next step is therefore a natural evolution, and we are genuinely excited about what it will mean for the future of triathlon and para-triathlon when we unveil the full Triathlon World Tour early next year.ā€

The T100 Triathlon World Tour wrapped up its second season on Friday in Qatar, with New Zealandā€™s Hayden Wilde and Great Britainā€™s Kate Waugh both taking the individual race wins and series titles on the year. The 2026 T100 season is set to kick off in Gold Coast, Australia, on March 21, while the final year of WTCS-branded racing starts a week later in Abu Dhabi on March 27.

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Question - What happens to World Triathlon if the PTO/T100 organization fails and goes belly up?

My understanding is that previously WT put on events, some of which had the purpose of figuring out who scored enough points to go to the olympics.

Now PTO/T100 now puts on these events? OK fineā€¦ I get that WT didnā€™t want to be in the events business.

Doesnā€™t this now place a giant counterparty risk onto World Triathlon? If PTO/T100 goes belly up, what happens then to the series of races which was previously used to figure out who goes to the Olympics? Obviously then can then commission some other org, or a series of orgs, to put on a bunch of races and they can then declare points or whatever - but its not like this can be created overnight.

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My sneaking overall suspicion is that much of this remains the same as it does today, in that WT contracts with a local organization to produce the event. T100/PTO does a lot of this, too; there simply isnā€™t enough traveling circus for them to do it all themselves.

Is it a risk? Of course. But it is more of a financial one, IMO, than it is one of logistics.

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So presumably, assuming that PTO/T100 doesnā€™t actually produce the races in question (licenses it to a local org), then if they go belly up, WT could just walk back into their old arrangement (+/- some stress)?

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Informed and ā€˜drivenā€™ by the Deloitte-authored report.
From endurance.biz It highlights key challenges in triathlonā€™s current model, from fragmented governance and limited digital presence to under-leveraged mass participation events. Drawing from global stakeholder insights, financial analysis, and market benchmarking, it provides suggestions to implement a new strategic vision.

Some key elements of the study are:

  • Creating a unified commercial ecosystem, with a new entity to drive partnerships, revenue, and innovation
  • Elevating event experience with festival-style formats and immersive digital touchpoints
  • Expanding fan and athlete engagement beyond elite performance, leveraging content, data, and storytelling
  • Investing in mass participation and emerging formats to build long-term sustainability
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Companies like Deloitte should stick to accounting and audit. The amount of damage theyā€™ve done to industries because someone hired them to solve problems they canā€™t sold is incredible. Do you know how much damage McKinsey did to Nike and Starbucks?

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Note: following is opinion and not to be taken as editorial position, etc of ST:

Having burned my way through that Deloitte report a few thousand times, the ā€œproblemā€ is that it both understands the fragmentation of triathlon and that it thinks that thereā€™s some type of unifier out there.

I think from a commercial entity standpoint, had we seen the PTO focus its efforts on being the broadcast production for all long-course tri (as I think weā€™ve said elsewhere), that wholly owned content model within the WB / whoever winds up buying it universe could have worked.

Instead, weā€™re here. I am skeptical, especially with age group racing, as thatā€™s going to be a loss leader for this tour for a while (unless theyā€™re about to acquire some additional events that are already profitable).

Could it work? Maybe. But itā€™s probably another $50-$60mm in spend at minimum before we even see 2027.

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Thought it was a very weak answer from the PTO CEO on this point. He said it was an improved situation post ā€˜mergerā€™ but the reality is that with Ironman, SuperTri and Challenge all running pro events the commercial landscape remains very fragmented (to the extent that I doubt the dynamics of commercial discussions will be materially different). It would be more interesting if PTO/WT have a strategy which would see combinations / partnerships with the other players too.

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and I guess this is real the key here , it will all take time. this is not a quick fix. ie the pto has not really produced a race that it talks about , stunning location, with many spectatorsā€¦

interestingly its world tri that has this race, with Hamburg. massive amount of spectators , 6 k or so people racing ie a proper tri festival live tv in germanys biggest tv station ā€¦ so maybe they should hire the ex ironman Germany Austria swiss ceo that works now for the German tri union as head race event director and has organised this even for like 8 years or so. ie employ somebody that has produced many times what they actually want to do. maybe should buy the French Grand Prix and German Bundesliga which are also do this reasonably well ( Albi was one of the best short course races this year ) elite races with spectators and in terms of the French league a pretty good tv product and in the German league a partly basic product with usually 2 races with very good tv production , but rather poor promotion. I doubt the French would sell it but the German league in my mind has a lot potential that is not used yet to its potential and with the addition of the race in immenstadt they have a race that comes the closest to the classic Kitzbuhel race that by most is consider to be the best world tri race course ever.

the other thing Is I guess all this will only really work if t100 was to get a oly slot . but this is again a typical pto word salad, as they do not say that they are very very unlikely to get more atheltes for tri in , so are they going to produce a race where exactly the same people have to do all 3 disciplines ie the oly distance draft legal , super short mtr , and non drafting t100 ā€¦.

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To be fair, they hired Eric Opdyke a little bit back. Eric has plenty of mixed pro/ag racing experience from his Rev3 days, has been a bit of a hired gun ever since. Especially when given appropriate resources, he can put on a hell of an event.

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yeah the LA tri hype in the usa is amazing this is where it all happens ā€¦ you know what I mean ā€¦. ie the key market to start is Europe where people actually still do short course, and world tri is present.

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And I suspect a big part of this ā€œmergerā€ is to justify getting more investors sinking money into it now that it can claim is going to reach scale.

If you take 100 million and pitch to people that Ironman is a billion dollar company that you are going to rival thatā€™s a pretty epic return for a non tech bio company.

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At least, that IM is a billion dollar valuation organization and going from thereā€¦

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The returns really arenā€™t that great.

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While that may be true, Ironman sold for nearly a billion dollars. The goal of any initial investors would be to be along for that ride when thereā€™s an IPO or they sell to someone else right?

From my business perspective is nonsense, but it does seem like thereā€™s a lot of nonsense out there making money I donā€™t really understand.

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I would say a big part in this is that the olympics is the only thing that can match kona every 4 years . and I would assume they think the can commercialise this more , and while I agree with rrheissler it takes a good while and money it can work . ( maybe not in the usa but in many other places in the world)