The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has spotlighted a battle in Sacramento, California as PTO World No. 1 Gustav Iden and PTO World No. 2 Jan Frodeno go toe-to-toe at IRONMAN California. The event takes place on Sunday, October 24th – with PTO adding that there is both US$100,000 and the title of PTO World No. 1 on the line.
With Sacramento being one of the last races of the 2021 IRONMAN season, both Iden and Frodeno are on the start-line looking to secure the PTO World No 1 spot. Jan Frodeno finds himself in unfamiliar territory given he has occupied the PTO World No. 1 place every year since the rankings were established.
While Frodeno is currently ranked PTO World No. 2, he is well positioned to continue his reign as PTO World No. 1 with a strong performance in Sacramento. However, new young gun, Gustav Iden, his victorious Collins Cup European teammate, may threaten to disrupt proceedings.
As Frodeno himself noted in a recent interview at the Collins Cup, “I feel like a guy trying to keep the door shut while everyone is looking to push it open.”
Frodeno and Iden not only shared Team Europe’s victory at The Collins Cup, but they also had the top two fastest times of the day, with Frodeno finishing just 28 seconds faster than Iden.
While Frodeno stands on the pedestal as one of the greatest of all time, Gustav Iden looks to make his mark as the athlete who… ‘broke down the door that Frodeno is trying to keep shut and steal the king’s crown.’
The PTO World Rankings is the proprietary, non-drafting world ranking system developed in a partnership between the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and TriRating. The ranking identifies and ranks the world’s best non-drafting professional triathletes over a whole year, not just a single race.
The final PTO World Rankings will be determined on December 31, 2021, and PTO Professionals will share in a US$2 million Rankings Bonus Pool, with the PTO World No. 1 claiming US$100,000 and PTO World No. 2 receiving US$90,000.
Under the PTO World Ranking System, an athlete’s ranking is based on their three best races of the year. To date, Iden’s three best races are 111.34 points, 110.18 points and 100.12 points, giving him an average of 107.21 points.
Frodeno’s three best races are 112.86 points, 107.51 points and 88.10 points giving him and average of 102.82 points.
To recapture the PTO World No. 1 spot, Frodeno needs to finish ahead of Iden and have a time that scores at least 101.29 points. For some perspective, in every long-distance race since 2015 excepting one, Frodeno has scored over 101.29 points and during that period has averaged 108.83 points.
PTO added… ‘For the Norwegian young gun, this will be his first long-distance race, but Iden is not intimidated by experienced fields having conquered all comers in the middle-distance IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in both 2019 and 2021.’
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