The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and Challenge Daytona have announced that the wildcard slots for the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona will be awarded during the week of October 12, 2020.
Broadly speaking, there are three main categories of athletes who are considered for a wildcard selection:
- Athletes whose rankings, because of injury, maternity or other reasons, do not accurately reflect the quality of their historical performances and who have demonstrated that they are capable of being in-form for the event;
- Up and coming athletes who have shown the ability to be competitive with the qualifying field, but have not yet had the opportunity to establish a sufficiently high ranking to be an automatic qualifier; and
- Short course athletes who have a sufficiently high ITU ranking so as to expect that they would be competitive in the event.
Selection criteria for wildcard slots can be found at protriathletes.org.
The PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona is an opportunity for the world’s top triathletes to finally race and compete for a US$1,000,000 prize purse. The top 40 men and 40 women in the PTO World Rankings as of either January 1, 2020 or March 2020 will automatically qualify for the event.
In addition, the non-athlete PTO Board members will select 20 additional wildcard slots comprised of 10 men and 10 women.
Charles Adamo, Executive Chairman of the PTO, said, “We are incredibly grateful to be working with Challenge Daytona and putting on a world-class event at the end of what has been a very difficult year.
“The PTO 2020 Championship will put on a display of resilience and resolve for which our sport is so famous. Because there has been almost no racing, we fixed the PTO World Rankings earlier in the year, and the top ranked 40 men and 40 women are automatically qualified. We will now go through the process of selecting ten additional men and ten additional women to join the start line as wildcards.”
He continued, “These will be very sought-after openings; and the non-athlete members of the PTO Board will have some very difficult decisions to make, particularly as the ITU season is ended and many of the Olympic distance superstars, like Nicola Spirig and Kristian Blummenfelt, are relishing this unique opportunity to have a crack at the PTO 2020 Championship.
“In addition, the wildcard selection process will allow the PTO to invite some of the young and up-and-coming athletes, giving them a chance to cut their teeth in a championship field. With the top 40 PTO World ranked professionals and the wildcard selections, the field for the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona will be one of the strongest fields ever assembled for our sport. It will be exciting to see the best athletes doing battle for the spoils.”
Bill Christy, CEO at Challenge North America said, “We are thrilled and honoured to welcome the world’s greatest athletes to Daytona International Speedway during the Challenge Daytona festival of events weekend. Incredible moments of race history have left their mark on iconic Daytona International Speedway and this inspiring field of athletes will join the ranks of athlete legends.”
He added, “An unprecedented field of competition combined with the fast and flat course, will be a race the world has not yet been able to witness. We expect jaw dropping and nail-biting battles with finishes that will have the world talking.
“We understand fans are hungry for live sports, and we are excited to deliver the race live to a global audience. The 2020 PTO Championship will be live across broadcast channels, streaming and media. The world will experience triathlon sporting history.”
www.challenge-daytona.com
www.protriathletes.org
