The second edition of triathlon’s equivalent of golf’s Ryder Cup – the PTO’s flagship Collins Cup – saw another emphatic win for Team Europe.
Šamorín, Slovakia was again the host as the world’s best descended on the purpose-built x-bionic® sphere.
Current IRONMAN World Champion Daniela Ryf got Europe off to a flying start and they never looked back as they racked up an astonishing 53 points.
Team International were runners up, notching four wins to Europe’s eight, as Team US were left empty-handed.
What is the Collins Cup?
It’s a showdown between Team Europe, Team US and Team International with the best middle-distance athletes in the world locking horns with each other.
The format is 12 three-athlete ‘matches’, with points (3, 2, 1) earned in those going towards the overall points totals of the three competing teams.
But there’s an added layer too as the margin of victory – or defeat – is also crucial. Win by over two minutes and you’ll earn an extra half point. That rises to a full point for four minutes and one-and-a-half points if more than six minutes.
That means there’s everything to play for until the third athlete in each match has crossed the line.
Those all-important matchups were revealed in Thursday’s Opening Ceremony.
How were the teams chosen?
Four women and four men qualified automatically for each team based on the PTO Rankings.
The remaining two female / male places went down to the Captains’ Picks, with the respective skippers – two on each team – being some of the legends of the sport.
And fair to say there was a degree of controversy – and imagination – around those selections, all adding to the intrigue this weekend.
Talking of controversy, if you happened to miss Friday’s press conference then you can watch it again via the embed below (hint: probably worth fast forwarding to 53 mins or so).
When and how to watch
This live blog kept you right up to date through the races themselves.
The action started at 1300 CET (1200 UK, 0700 Eastern, 0400 Pacific). The women’s matches began first and were spaced 10 minutes apart.
There was then a half hour break before the first men’s match at 1420 CET, and again, 10 minutes between each race start.
The event was broadcast (in Europe and Indian subcontinent) on Eurosport / Discovery+ / GCN+ and in the rest of the world there were a host of local broadcast options, as well as the PTO+ app.
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