PTO US Open 2022: Start times, how to watch live and preview – Elite News
The third and final race of the 2022 PTO Tour arrives in Texas this weekend with the PTO US Open at Dallas.
After the Canadian Open in July (won by Ashleigh Gentle and Gustav Iden) and the second edition of the Collins Cup (retained by Team Europe), there is another $1 million in prize money up for grabs.
If you’re desperate for Saturday and Sunday night TV in Europe and you’re a triathlon fan, then this is your weekend.
Start time and how to watch live
The Dallas race will take place over two days with start times as follows:
- Pro Women: Saturday 17 September 2022 – 1145 local time, 1245 Eastern, 0945 Pacific, 1745 UK, 1845 CET
- Pro Men: Sunday 18 September 2022 – 1445 local time, 1545 Eastern, 1245 Pacific, 2045 UK, 2145 CET
In Europe, the race will be broadcast live on Eurosport, with global coverage also available via the new PTO+ app and a range of global broadcast partners and streaming services. Detailed information on this can be found on the PTO website.
Pro women
In who is Not Renneimer is missing Anne Haug (GER), Daniela Ryf (SUI) and Laura Philipp (GER), who currently occupy the first three places in the PTO world rankings. In addition, there is the US duo Skye Moench (#8) and Chelsea Sodaro (#10), who finished third at the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton.
All five of these athletes have their eyes on the IRONMAN World Championship three weeks later, but the most notable middle-distance specialist shortfall is Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR). After a busy summer schedule, she is back home in South Africa preparing for next month’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships.
Despite all that, if you have Lucy Charles Barclay (GBR), Kat Matthews (GBR), the return of Taylor Knibb (USA) and the two best from Edmonton, Ashleigh Gentle (Off and Paula Findley (CAN) – to name just five – then there’s plenty of race-ready talent.
British strength in depth continues Holly Lawrence, Fenella Langridge, Ruth Astel and India Lee.
The name to watch could well be an Olympic champion, Flora Duffy. I’ll be honest I was surprised by the amount of training Daniela Ryf gave the Bermudian over the same distance at the Collins Cup recently. I think that way will have hurt and that we will see a much improved performance here.
If she wants to compete in Dallas, improvement is imperative. With the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship now on their schedule, it will be a real indication of their prospects next month in St. George.
All in all an interesting mix of athletes in Kona prep mode (Langridge, Matthews, Astle etc.), middle distance specialists (Gentle, Findlay, Lawrence, Tamara Jewett (CAN), Ellie Salthouse (AUS) and others). Returning from longer term injuries/in from other specialties (Charles-Barclay, Knibb, Duffy, Imogen Simmonds (SUI) etc.).
The weather is going to be very hot and we saw in Miami earlier this year that Gentle appears to be more than capable in these conditions. A TT-style course also works well for Canadian time trial champion Findlay (remember Daytona 2020?), while Charles-Barclay’s return to a world title means she can’t be ruled out either. Almost a month later, it will certainly be further improved as well.
This trio with – I predict – a much better prepared flora would be the quartet I would choose to top the results. Perhaps crucially, none of these athletes have Hawaii on their minds. I don’t think there will be much between them all in the end, but in order not to sit on the fence, I’ll go with the following…
- 1st—Lucy Charles-Barclay
- 2nd—Ashleigh Gentle
- 3.—Flora Duffy
- 4.—Paula Findlay
pro men
As we previously reported, PTO #1 and #2 Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden are missing, as are three other Kona bound athletes from the top 10 of the rankings, Patrick Lange (GER), Braden Currie (New Zealand ) and Leon Chevalier (FRA). We also received word today, Friday, that Alistair Brownlee is also out for the remainder of 2022 and will miss both the PTO US Open and the IRONMAN World Championship.
As with women, if you still have Magnus Ditlev (CAVE), Lionel Sanders (CAN), Daniel Baekkegard (CAVE), Florian Anger (DE), Sam Lang (US) and Rudy von Berg (USA) far from a weak field. And that’s far from the complete list of real podium contenders.
All told, at least 10 of the Canadian Open’s top 15 finishers will be in action, so the race should remain tight until the end, especially in the absence of the Norwegian super duo. It was pretty much exactly three minutes for positions three through 12 at Edmonton, and on a potentially quicker course at Dallas, there’s probably little reason to expect anything different this time. Expect places to change within the last few kilometers – especially (see below) with the difference in prize money each step up can make.
If anything, the course style should play to the strengths of Sanders, Long and Ditlev – athletes who excel in full aero mode and then run well. If you look at their performances at the Collins Cup (granted, no apples-to-apples comparison due to the format of the game), Bækkegård have to be thrown into the mix as well. Except for the guys from Bergen, these four were far from everyone else.
Ditlev was very impressive in the swim there (as he was in Roth) and if he can replicate that and play to his potential on the bike, Sanders and Long’s likely swimming deficit could prove too much to handle on the run could overcome .
Despite all of that, Ditlev Sanders has never batted, and the Canadian lives and trains in the heat of Tucson, Arizona. Similarly, they’ve had some big battles in recent years, Yo yo yo usually finds the finish line shortly thereafter No limits.
The “In Kona Prep” discussions are coming back into play for many of the top contenders (but Not Long) but I see the course and conditions on the side of Lionel Sanders to be on top of the podium in Dallas.
- 1.—Lionel Sanders
- 2nd—Sam Long
- 3.—Magnus Ditlev
- 4.—Daniel Baekkegard
event format
The event will be held over the “100 km” distance of the PTO.
This includes a 2km, two-lap swim in Lake Carolyn, including an Australian halfway finish.
The 80km bike course consists of seven (!) laps of a mainly crisscross course, passing the grandstand near the transition of each course. Since the terrain doesn’t have any elements with a gradient over 3%, at least on paper, this should play to the pure time trial/strength specialists’ strengths, more so than the course we saw at the Canadian Open in July.
The multi-lap format continues in the run, with the 18K made up of five laps of 3.6K. The forecast temperatures – well over 30°C – are likely to make the mostly flat course significantly harder than the profile on paper will appear.
Prize money: what’s at stake?
No one will go home empty-handed from Dallas this weekend as the $1 million purse pays out to 40 athletes.
The winner of the race gets $100,000, with a top 10 finish awarding at least $16,000 and 20th still earning $5,000. The full breakdown of the prizes is as follows:
- 1. $100,000
- 2. $70,000
- 3. $50,000
- 4. $40,000
- 5. $35,000
- 6. $30,000
- 7. $25,000
- 8. $20,000
- 9. $18,000
- 10. $16,000
- 11. $14,000
- 12. $13,000
- 13. $12,000
- 14, $11,000
- 15, $10,000
- 16. $9,000
- 17. $8,000
- 18. $7,000
- 19. $6,000
- 20. $5,000
- 21-40 $2,000 each
As we keep emphasizing, thanks to the creation of the Professional Triathletes Organization, financial rewards for achievement will not depend solely on daily accomplishments.
A total of $2 million will be awarded in the PTO World Rankings at the end of 2022 based on the final standings in these point tables. The rewards there can be substantial, with moving up or down the ranking system potentially earning you more than each individual event.
It’s worth noting that for this particular event – like the Canadian Open earlier in the season – ranking points earned in Texas also benefit from an additional 5% bonus. Therefore, a strong performance in Dallas could potentially be very lucrative, both in terms of race day and season-ending bonus terms.
