Professional Triathletes Organisation Confirms First Contracted Athletes For 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour

December 18, 2024

London, UK (December 18, 2024) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has confirmed the first athletes who will be racing on the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour, from those who automatically qualified by placing in the top 10 positions of this season’s competition.

Both T100 World Champions, American Taylor Knibb and Belgian Marten Van Riel, have put pen to paper to defend their crowns.

Automatic qualifiers who have signed for 2025 on women’s side are:

1. Taylor Knibb (USA)
2. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)
3. Julie Derron (SUI)
4. Flora Duffy (BER)
5. Lucy Byram (GBR)
6. India Lee (GBR)
7. Imogen Simmonds (SUI)
8. Paula Findlay (CAN)

On the men’s side it will be:

1. Marten Van Riel (BEL)
2. Kyle Smith (NZL)
3. Rico Bogen (GER)
4. Sam Long (USA)
5. Mathis Magirier (FRA)
6. Pieter Heemeryck (BEL)
7. Youri Keulen (NED)
8. Fred Funk (GER)

Note: Alistair Brownlee finished 5th in 2024 but has now retired.

“I’m excited to confirm that I’ll be racing on the T100 Tour next year,” said Knibb, who produced a perfect clean sweep of wins in her four T100 races this year and at the weekend added the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship crown in Taupō, New Zealand, to cap a dominant year.

“We could be having a very different conversation a year from now. Everyone is improving and will be coming for me. I know that only too well. There are so many women out there at the moment and the standard is improving all the time. I just think with the T100 series and what the Professional Triathletes Organisation is doing for the sport at the moment, it is going to take women’s professional triathlon to a new level next year and I’m very grateful to be a part of it.”

Van Riel was equally enthusiastic and highlighted his desire to race the best athletes out there on a consistent basis as one of his key reasons for signing up again for 2025:

“Winning this season’s T100 Triathlon World Tour has been a dream realised for me and once I’ve had some time off, I’ll be working out how to step things up again in 2025. I want to race the best athletes on the planet on a regular basis. It’s as simple as that – and when you also factor in the way the PTO is helping to professionalise the sport: with better broadcast for triathlon and sports fans around the world; looking after professional athletes in a way that has never happened before…through having season long contracts; having bike mechanics, access to massage and that professional set up around the races. That really is a massive move forward. Add in the unique atmosphere the T100 is creating, with their mix of pro races and amateur events that allow everyone to get involved in our sport, and it’s great to be part of it.”

2024 saw the PTO launch the new 7-leg USD T100 Triathlon World Tour, which featured the world’s top 20 female and top 20 male triathletes compete head-to-head in a series of iconic locations – including Singapore, San Francisco, London, Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas and then Dubai for the T100 Triathlon World Championship Final last month.

It has already announced seven stops for 2025 which includes a return to Singapore on 5-6 April, to start the new series, then a new trip to France for the first French Riviera T100 Triathlon before going to San Francisco , London , Ibiza , Las Vegas and Dubai – and will announce the remaining 2025 races as well as remainder of the 2025 T100 contracted athletes, in the new year.

Reflecting on the first T100 season, CEO Sam Renouf said:

“The first year of T100 Triathlon World Tour passed all expectations and the calibre of the athletes who qualified in the top 10 this season illustrates that. It was always our ambition to get the best athletes racing each other more consistently across the season and, as a result, fans have been treated to some spectacular racing. This is essential for the professional sport to grow and the rest of the sport to then benefit – we can’t have a situation when the best athletes only come together once or twice per year.”

“We also wanted to race in iconic locations and bucket list destinations. Looking at Taylor and Marten coming across the line in Dubai with the city skyline and the Burj Khalifa in the background, we think we achieved exactly that.”

“Can we do more and improve on this season? Of course. This is a long term project – we knew it wouldn’t be perfect overnight and it would take some time to work out some of the ‘kinks’ of a new product. But we look forward to making more progress in 2025 and will take a great deal of positive momentum into next year.”

Also commenting on the first T100 season, World Triathlon President Antonio F. Arimany said:

“The inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour has been an outstanding addition to the triathlon ecosystem in 2024, with every stop on the Series producing first-class entertainment and bringing new fans to the sport. The pathway for our athletes has been augmented in a way that makes triathlon an even more attractive and sustainable career, the importance of which cannot be understated both now and for its collective future. So we look ahead to 2025 and to building on everything that we have learned to make the new season even more vital than the one we have just witnessed. The way that the Tour has been embraced so quickly by these superb athletes, the fans and media leaves us perfectly placed to deliver something very special for the year ahead.”

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For Further Information:

Anthony Scammell E: Anthony.Scammell@protriathletes.org

About Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO)

The PTO is a sports body that is co-owned by its professional athletes, seeking to elevate and grow the sport of triathlon and take it to the next level. The T100 Triathlon World Tour was the new name for the PTO Tour and has been designated by World Triathlon as the ‘official World Championship for long distance triathlon’. It was a season-long schedule of T100 races during 2024 that are competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run) and featured the world’s best triathletes going head-to-head in Miami (9 March), Singapore (13-14 April), San Francisco (8-9 June), London (27-28 July), Ibiza (28-29 September), Lake Las Vegas (19-20 October) and then the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final (16-17 November). There were also racing opportunities for amateurs at all the events, including the new 100km distance at five stages, including: Singapore, London, Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas and Dubai. The global broadcast shows the races live around the world in 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as well as a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters.