The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has announced another stacked start list for the PTO US Open women’s race in Milwaukee on Saturday 5 August, featuring six of the top ten PTO Ranked athletes.
Led by PTO World #1 Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) the field also includes #5 Paula Findlay (CAN), #6 Taylor Knibb, #7 Chelsea Sodaro (USA), #8 Laura Philipp, and #10 Holly Lawrence (GBR).
In total, the line up for the second PTO Tour race of the season includes 17 of the top 30 women from PTO World Rankings and covers nine different countries.
“I was just off the pace in Ibiza and in these PTO Open races that’s all it takes because the fields are so competitive,” said Ashleigh Gentle, who’s PTO Tour crown slipped at the inaugural PTO European Open when she finished second to Germany’s Anne Haug. “But the race in Milwaukee offers another great opportunity against a strong line up and in a different location and conditions, which I’m really looking forward to.”
Taylor Knibb leads a strong contingent of eight American athletes – including Chelsea Sodaro, Skye Moench, Jocelyn McCauley, Sarah True, Jackie Hering, Danielle Lewis and Haley Chura – who will all be looking for a maiden PTO Tour victory on home soil.
Hering, who grew up in DeForest, an hour away from Milwaukee, is delighted to see the race visit the Wisconsin state, and summed up the group’s determination going into the event:
“Having grown up in Wisconsin and spent a lot of time in Milwaukee, it is exciting to see the PTO US Open being staged here. There’ll be a huge Wisconsin welcome and loads of support for all the home athletes, which I’m hoping will inspire us to some great racing and results next month.”
The PTO US Open women’s confirmed automatic qualifiers start list includes:
Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)
Paula Findlay (CAN)
Taylor Knibb (USA)
Chelsea Sodaro (USA)
Laura Philipp (GER)
Holly Lawrence (GBR)
Tamara Jewett (CAN)
Kat Matthews (GBR)
Skye Moench (USA)
India Lee (GBR)
Jocelyn McCauley (USA)
Marjolaine Pierré (FRA)
Sarah True (USA)
Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN)
Jackie Hering (USA)
Ellie Salthouse (AUS)
Danielle Lewis (USA)
Rebecca Clarke (NZL)
Jeanni Metzler (SA)
Anne Reischmann (GER)
Lucy Byram (GBR)
Rach McBride (CAN)
Haley Chura (USA)
Ruth Astle (GBR)
*Auto qualifiers based on 29 May rankings (ranked #1-10) and 26 June rankings (ranked #11-26).
Both the women’s and men’s 100km races in Milwaukee will take place on a specially designed course, which is adjacent to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Henry Maier Festival Park and Discovery World along the shore of Lake Michigan
The women’s race takes place on Saturday 5 August, starting 23:15 CET and will be broadcast live around the world to 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO Tour’s partnerships with Warner Bros. Discovery. It will live on Eurosport 1 from 23:00 CET as well as featured on a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters including CNBC in the US, DAZN, beIN Sports and SPOTV across Asia. The prize fund for the PTO Opens in 2023 is $600,000 USD per event – with $100,000 for the winner, $50,000 for second and $35,000 for third – making each event the most lucrative in the sport over this distance.
This year, the PTO US Open is being staged alongside USA Triathlon’s National Championships, which are in partnership with Sports Milwaukee. With the USAT Age Group National Championships and Youth & Junior Nationals being staged together for the first time, it promises to be the biggest weekend of triathlon racing in the US, with more than 7,000 participants and 20,000 spectators expected to attend.
The 2023 PTO US Open men’s start list will be confirmed Wednesday 12 July. The four wildcards for each of the races will be announced on Thursday (13 July).
