The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon have announced a number of revisions to the 2026 T100 Triathlon World Tour format.
There’s a lot to take in but at first glance it’s quite a surprise to us at TRI247 to see such drastic changes at this point in the PTO’s evolution.
We like the fact that we’ll likely get higher quality fields, but have concerns elsewhere.
Here’s our take on the key changes, one by one…
Separate weekends
Each of the eight regular season races will now just feature one pro race – with women and men alternating, so four of each through the course of the season before they come together for the Grand Final in Qatar.
We all know how that separation played out for the IRONMAN World Championship – the men and women will be back together on one day in Kona from 2026 onwards.
In fairness to the PTO, the Grand Final in Qatar will have the double header and part of the rationale for the rest of the season is that it will improve the broadcast product.
And that’s hard to argue with – we’ve had occasions this season in T100 races where key action has been missed – or at least diluted – as the broadcast tries to cover both races. And last weekend in Kona should have been an object lesson to everyone – so much of that late drama in the women’s race could have been missed if the men’s pro race had been finishing at around the same time.
It is a real challenge for middle / long-distance triathlon – Supertri (especially, with a slick broadcast package and high production values) and WTCS work well as the two races are completely separate and consumer-friendly in terms of the time they take.
It’s also been noticeable this season – at least in the UK – that sometimes the only way to watch the races live has been on the livestream rather than via the PTO’s broadcast partners as they often seem to have got squeezed in the schedule.
Fewer mandatory races
Presumably this has come after feedback from athletes and the PTO Athlete Board. The criteria at present is best four scores plus Qatar Grand Final count towards the final score.
It’s now going to mirror the WTCS and go to best three plus Grand Final. Crucially though, unlike the WTCS or the 2025 T100 calendar, there are only going to be four options for athletes.
So that should mean far, far higher quality fields, with the best vs best ethos on a regular basis one of the key PTO tenets, something that hasn’t really been delivered in 2025.
With all due respect to all the athletes involved, the fields for Wollongong T100 on Saturday underline that. Just eight of the top 35 men in the standings line up and #1 Hayden Wilde has no jeopardy on his performance as he can’t improve his points haul. For the women in Australia it’s just two of the top 12 in action. Of course there are mitigating factors – Kona and injuries among them – but that’s simply not good enough given the basis the series is sold on.
So far then, two changes we completely see the rationale.
No more season-long contracts
The PTO have put a very positive spin on this but it feels like something of a retreat and 1-0 to IRONMAN who have made their Pro Series work without the need for contracts.
The PTO say it will provide athletes with more flexibility throughout the season and, as we’ve said above, the chances of more of the bigger names lining up has probably been increased but it doesn’t smack of growing the T100 Triathlon World Tour, nor incentivising loyalty towards it.
Looking on the bright side it could be suggested that it might widen the pool of athletes competing in the T100 as it has felt a bit of a closed shop recently.
But the PTO World Rankings will be be a key metric used to fill up the fields and it’s been obvious for some time that they are simply way too biased now in favour of T100 events so that won’t necessarily mix things up.
The jury is out on this one for now, we’ll have to see how it plays out.
Higher prize money
“Each T100 race in 2026 will offer a $275,000 prize fund, more than double the prize fund per race this year.”
That’s what the press release says and strictly speaking it’s accurate. Each women’s race and each men’s race in 2025 has $125,000 up for grabs.
But that is $250,000 per race weekend. And with just one pro race per venue in 2026 (bar Qatar) the fairer comparison is $275,000 vs $250,000 as there will only bey half the opportunities to earn prize money. And every athlete is different in terms of how often they’d like to race – Hayden Wilde for example is looking to win seven out of seven this year after missing the other two through injury.
Given inflation etc, ‘prize money is essentially staying the same’ would be a more accurate summary.
A couple of other quick points – it will be again be a nine-race schedule in 2026 and three races have already been confirmed, with Gold Coast T100 in Australia on 21-22 March, Singapore T100 on 25-26 April and Vancouver T100 on 15-16 August. We also know there will be no London T100 in 2026 as that switches to a WTCS event. The remaining six events for 2026 will be announced in the coming weeks.
And as for the double headers with WTCS races that we have in Wollongong this weekend and French Riviera earlier in the campaign, that also looks to have disappeared judging by the just-released 2026 WTCS calendar.
The full press release is below so make your own mind up…
Revisions For 2026 T100 Tour
As the PTO continues its journey to elevate the sport and take it mainstream, the revisions to the T100 competition format include:
- Adapting the event schedule to allow for fewer mandatory races for professional women and men – instead of hosting joint female and male T100 race weekends, women and men will each race four individual dates before coming together for the Qatar T100 World Championship Final in Doha. Each athlete’s best three T100 race scores plus the final will count towards the women’s and men’s T100 World Championship titles.
- Removal of season-long contracts – Moving to ranking-based selection of events, providing athletes with more flexibility throughout the season. In the lead up to each event, the PTO will simply issue invitations to the best female and male professionals. For the first race this will be based on their 2025 T100 Race To Qatar finishing position [top 10]; the top 5 from the Contender Rankings and 5 Wildcards. After that, it will be the top 10 in the 2026 T100 Race To Qatar, along with the next 8 from the PTO World Rankings System and 2 Wildcards.
- Increased prize money per race – Each T100 race in 2026 will offer a $275,000 prize fund, more than double the prize fund per race this year, starting with $50,000 for first place, $40,000 for second, $30,000 for third, down to $3,500 for 20th place. The series prize pool will be worth $1,450,000 split equally between women and men, with $100,000 to each series winner.
Commenting ahead of this weekend’s T100 and WTCS races in Wollongong, Australia, the PTO CEO Sam Renouf said:
“What is clear and supported by our professional athletes’ feedback and actions over the last 18 months, is that getting the pros to compete across all the legs of a nine stop series has been a challenge, for a variety of reasons. Equally, we know from the feedback from our commercial partners, that if triathlon wants to elevate itself and compete with the many other forms of sport and entertainment in the world, we need to deliver a season-long calendar that has enough volume to ‘cut through’. By adapting our competition format to keep our race calendar intact, while incorporating the feedback of the professionals, we believe we can deliver the best of both worlds.”
“We also recognize the impact our racing has on our other stakeholders, be that the fans who tune-in and spectate, the hosts who close their roads and the broadcasters who dedicate their valuable airtime to the competition. An unanticipated impact of our calendar in 2025 was a professional product that sometimes extended to six or seven hours – far longer than we’d ever anticipated when creating the T100 as the optimum distance to professionalise the sport. By adapting to this single race format, we can deliver the ideal product for all our stakeholders in a 4-hour event window consistent with other major professional sports, making our events for both genders even more competitive, rewarding and exciting for everyone involved.”
World Triathlon President, Antonio F. Arimany, said: “World Triathlon is really proud of the strong partnership and collaborative spirit we share with the PTO. By listening to our key stakeholders, especially the athletes, we are confident that the evolution of the T100 series will result in an even more compelling and successful circuit in 2026. Together, we are committed to elevating the sport and providing the best possible platform for our athletes to shine.”
The PTO Athlete Board, who have played a key role around the competition format changes, said: “Establishing the T100 Triathlon World Tour has been a significant step forward for our sport, leading to a better broadcast product, that for the first time has incorporated RaceRanger as well as live biometric athlete data for sports fans around the world. Our professional athletes are also being looked after in a way that has elevated the professionalism and care of professional triathletes – through increased athlete remuneration & minimum payments, airport transfers & accommodation, access to training facilities, bike mechanics, & massage, and, in general, a pro athlete focused set up at all T100 Events. We have seen how this environment has produced a world class tour and adapting the competition format to ensure the quality and consistency remains, while also searching for improvements for all stakeholders was paramount in deciding these changes. We are as excited as ever to see how the 2026 T100 Tour will unfold.”
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