‘World Championship-calibre races’ all year round is the plan for Daniel Baekkegard as he nominated the PTO Tour and the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona as his big targets for 2024.

The Dane finished last season in style, with wins at first Challenge Canberra and then IRONMAN Western Australia, the latter display earning him the PTO’s athlete of the month award for December.

‘It’s going to be epic’

But it was his consistent performances in the PTO events plus a fourth place at Challenge Roth which helped him end the campaign at #11 in the world rankings.

And looking ahead to the new season, he told the PTO: “Right now I’m on Lanzarote prepping for the 2024 season. My goal is pretty obvious, it’s the PTO Tour. It’s a no-brainer and it’s going to be absolutely epic. By the sound of it, it’s the future in races and I can’t wait for it to start.

“Then, obviously, Kona is a big one for me.

Qualifying in Western Australia and getting the slot early was key for me, so I could focus on the PTO calendar in the season.

“It’s basically a season of World Championship-calibre races we’re going to have and that’s definitely going to help the sport grow, get more fans, build the profiles of the athletes and so on.”

‘Different set of skills’

Baekkegard has been a model of consistency, finishing 11th in the standings for each of the last two years, but he’s looking to crack the top 10 in 2024.

He explained: “With my coach we looked at last season, what went well and what we could do better. And we’ve turned things a bit around for this season as it’s a different set of skills I’m going to need. So I’m just extremely motivated to get going and hopefully do well.”

The PTO have yet to release their full schedule but it’s expected to be between six to eight races, with the Asian Open in Singapore in April and the European Open in Ibiza in September the two confirmed so far.