The first ‘major’ of the PTO era absolutely needed stellar fields, and as of now the 2022 Canadian Open in Edmonton has just that.
The inaugural running of the event takes place in the North American city this weekend, with a massive prize pool of $1million up for grabs.
On Saturday we had Australian star Ashleigh Gentle running to a brilliant victory in the women’s pro race to claim a $100k first prize.
On Sunday the pro men will take centre stage, and the prospect is just as mouthwatering.
Reigning Olympic and IRONMAN World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt, and his compatriot and IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Gustav Iden.
We also have home favourite Lionel Sanders and the late bonus addition of double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee.
Men’s start list
The Norwegian megastars lead the way – Blummenfelt vs Iden alone is enough to get swim/bike/run pulses racing the world over. Throw in Sanders and now Alistair Brownlee and it is a very potent mix for Sunday July 24:
| Athlete | Country |
| Kristian Blummenfelt | NOR |
| Gustav Iden | NOR |
| Lionel Sanders | CAN |
| Matt Hanson | USA |
| Jackson Laundry | CAN |
| Ben Kanute | USA |
| Sam Laidlow | FRA |
| David McNamee | GBR |
| Max Neumann | AUS |
| Sam Appleton | AUS |
| Kyle Smith | NZL |
| Reinaldo Colucci | BRA |
| Jason West | USA |
| Frederic Funk | GER |
| Miki Taagholt | DEN |
| Clement Mignon | FRA |
| Sebastian Kienle | GER |
| Bart Aernouts | BEL |
| Collin Chartier | USA |
| Andre Lopes | BRA |
| Thomas Steger | AUT |
| Tim Van Berkel | AUS |
| Pablo Dapena Gonzalez | ESP |
| Filipe Azevedo | POR |
| Andrew Starykowicz | USA |
| Pieter Heemeryck | BEL |
| Eric Lagerstrom | USA |
| Youri Keulen | NED |
| Kyle Buckingham | RSA |
| Steve McKenna | AUS |
| Jack Moody | NZL |
| Brent McMahon | CAN |
| Aaron Royle | AUS |
| Jason Pohl | CAN |
| Henri Schoeman | RSA |
| Alistair Brownlee | GBR |
| Matt Sharpe | CAN |
| Matthew McElroy | USA |
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