Commentary: Has the PTO Accidentally Created A Spotlight for the ...

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After much talk, hype, and build-up, The Professional Triathletes Organization T100 Series is finally in its inaugural year. Twenty contracted athletes (per gender) are competing over eight races with the intention of a series-long narrative: The best of the best in the tri world, racing each other in each race. In theory, that’s the top athletes racing each other more times than would normally happen in a given long-course tri season.

Big rivalries and showdowns were promised. The PTO was hoping to rekindle the old days of Olympic racing with Alistair Brownlee versus Javier Gomez (who both now race over the longer distance). On the women’s side, there were tons of match-ups everyone wanted to see regularly: Lucy Charles-Barclay v. Ashleigh Gentle v. Taylor Knibb v. Anne Haug v. Daniela Ryf, and so on.

When the T100 contracts were handed out, only three top PTO-ranked men turned them down – Kristian Blummenfelt, Patrick Lange, and Lionel Sanders. All of the top-ranked women accepted.

But has it really turned out like what was envisioned?

The rise of the wild cards T100 Singapore 2024 Pro Mens Race on the 14th April 2024 at the Marina Bay, Singapore. (photo: T100/Jesper Gronnemark) (Photo: Professional Triathletes Organization)

We are three races in and have had six different winners. And while the 20 contracted athletes aren’t required to race every race, the aim is to have 20 top-level pros on the start line. But many have chosen not to race each race, perhaps resulting in that lack of aforementioned match-ups.

However, this does open the door to “wild card” athletes—athletes who don’t have a T100 contract, but due to their PTO world ranking (or recent notable performances) are given a spot on the start line, if space is available.

So far across the three T100 races, a total of 39 wild cards have been awarded. On average, that’s over 32% of the field in each race; in the T100 Singapore event, 42% of the field was wild cards!

The wild cards making a name for themselves are most obvious on the men’s side—names like Youri Keulen and Kyle Smith. Both athletes have had two wild-card starts: Keulen finished fourth at T100 Miami and went on to win at T100 Singapore; Smith finished fifth in Singapore and then second at T100 San Francisco. In the overall series rankings (as of this writing), wild cards sit in second (Keulen), fourth (Smith), and sixth (Germany’s Mika Noodt).

As with any year, new athletes emerge, or athletes come off the back of injury and have stellar performances. Keulen is a younger and relatively new athlete to long-course racing and did start to emerge with noticeable performances back in 2023. Smith has had great results in the past, but struggled with illness last year, and was also still deciding between returning to Olympic-distance racing and the 2024 Paris Games or not. They both missed out on T100 contracts when they were handed out, and at the time I’d say it was probably a well-informed decision, given their 2023 rankings.

Fast forward to 2024, and things have clicked for both. Are we noticing their great performances because they have been given a platform and visibility through the coverage and media of the PTO and broadcasts of the T100 racing? Fans (and dollars) were drawn in by the lure of big names, but when those big names get upended, that’s exciting too. Maybe even more so.

Fans (and dollars) were drawn in by the lure of big names, but when those big names get upended, that’s exciting too.

Wild cards also probably feel they have something to prove. They potentially have one race to make their case for another wild card slot—or a fairly lucrative contract with guaranteed cash the following year. They have one chance to impress and add to the excitement and entertainment that the made-for-TV broadcast demands. They, in effect, have nothing to lose and can adapt their training to be ready to rock in that one race/opportunity.

Keulen himself said in a pre-race interview that he knew he needed a podium in Singapore—even off the back of his Miami result—and tailored his training and all his preparation with a specific focus on performing in that race. Sure, it’s rare when preparation perfectly intersects with opportunity, but for Keulen it did. It paid off. He won.

For the women, the wild cards aren’t technically making the same impact up front, even though the women’s wild-card athletes have a higher concentration on the start line than the men: In Singapore, there were 12 wild cards in the women’s race out of the 20 start spots.

The highest-finishing wild-card athlete has been Els Visser in Singapore in third, but she’s only raced once in the T100 Tour.

With the exception of India Lee (although she is still a T100 contracted athlete, and I’d say it was only a matter of time before a big win for Lee), the women’s racing is going more to the form we were expecting, with names like Gentle and Knibb on top—rather than wild-card athletes.

That said, we just aren’t getting the regular matchups with the top women in each race, as many are opting out. Think: 2019 Ironman world champion Anne Haug’s notable absence, Lucy Charles-Barclay’s absence from T100 SF (and abrupt recent 180 announcement to race at Ironman World Championships in Nice), and no T100 finishes from 2022 Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro. There was also Daniela Ryf’s unfortunate injury—in her final season no less, and of course Holly Lawrence and Skye Moench have announced their respective pregnancies—which is fantastic news, but takes another two stellar athletes out of the mix.

So why are the top rivalries not materializing? T100 Miami 2024, Pro Female race on the 9th March 2024 at the Miami Homestead Speedway, Miami, Florida USA ( photo: James Mitchell) (Photo: Professional Triathletes Organization)

First, we are in the inaugural year of the T100 tour, and it’s also an Olympic year, so Knibb, Flora Duffy, and Taylor Spivey (the latter two have secured “Hot Shot” contracts with special dispensations to allow for the Olympic schedule) are obviously prioritizing the World Triathlon Championship Series and Olympic selection/preparation, ahead of the T100 (and rightly so).

The first year of a series like the T100 also means athletes are having to get accustomed to what it means on their schedules, the requirements, the racing, and perhaps some have underestimated and/or overcommitted for the year.

Also it’s possible the T100 contracts have allowed too much flex with athletes and race requirements. This is particularly likely too, given the presence of competing series’ like the Ironman Pro Series and Challenge, and something the PTO will take note of and hopefully change into 2025.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter that we aren’t getting the head to heads promised? Are we not getting exciting races? I would argue against anyone who says the San Francisco T100 men’s event wasn’t an exciting race, with a three-way sprint finish. Even if none of the names in it were ones that would have lit up a marquee a year ago.

I would also argue that I found the women’s race in San Francisco just as exciting, because it’s a joy and privilege to watch an athlete like Knibb perform (and I’ll tell you a secret, that wasn’t even her best – far from it). India Lee upstaging Lucy Charles-Barclay and other favorites in Miami was pretty exciting and awesome too.

Is it exciting because perhaps it’s uncovered an opportunity for the unexpected? The wild cards, the opportunistic, the underdog? Is it exciting because it’s not the normal match up we were predicting and expecting—but we’re still tuning in because some familiar faces from the last five years are there too?.

Everyone loves an underdog. Think: Tom Brady, the 199th draft pick, yet now the greatest NFL player ever; or the Leicester City Football club that won their only Premiership Title in 132 years of existence back in 2015 against 5000-1 odds, while beating the stalwarts and giants of English soccer. Think: the 1980 USA men’s Olympic ice hockey team beating the Soviet Union – “The Miracle on Ice” – I could go on.

But everyone loves an underdog, and especially when an underdog upsets the odds. And perhaps the story of T100 year one will be the battle of the wild cards, the uncovering of new talent, and the thriving underdog.

Watch the underdogs take over the T100 Triathlon Tour – Outside+ members can replay all races in the T100 Tour on Outside TV. Become a member today.