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Lucy Charles-Barclay and Gustav Iden topped the PTO’s end-of-year ‘Race For The Rankings’ in 2021 and each scooped a $100,000 bonus as a result.
The two IRONMAN 70.3 World Champions were on top of the pile when the final scores were totted up following the action around the world on the first weekend of December.
Lucy’s astonishing performance to claim her first world title as a pro in St George in September was enough to see her finish #1 in the women’s list, ahead of Swiss superstar Daniela Ryf.
Iden meanwhile overtook Jan Frodeno at the top of the men’s standings courtesy of brilliant victories at the Collins Cup, then in St George and finally on his full-distance debut at IRONMAN Florida in November.
Lionel Sanders cemented his third place in the final men’s standings with victory over Vincent Luis and Jelle Geens at IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells.
Two men who earned themselves extra cash on the back of their efforts at CLASH Daytona were Dane Magnus Ditlev and American Matt Hanson. Ditlev’s second behind Kristian Blummenfelt saw him move up from 14th to 15th, while Hanson’s fourth moved him up three places from #19 to #16.
Tamara Jewett’s second place at Indian Wells saw her move up from 18th to 17th in the women’s list while Britain’s Jodie Stimpson cracked the top 20 thanks to her fourth at Daytona – upping her end-of-year bonus to $11,000.
Previously ranked #62 with just two scoring results, we had highlighted pre-race the potential for Jodie at the Daytona International Speedway. Along with the $5,500 won on the day, that made it a very worthwhile trip to Florida for the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion. Congratulations Jodie.
How do the PTO Rankings work?
This was not just about kudos – the athletes fought it out for a bonus pool worth a cool $2million in the ‘Race For The Rankings’. This was dished out based on rankings at the end of 2021.
Each athlete had a points total which was an average of their three best races over a 13-month period – starting December 1, 2020 and ending December 31, 2021. This was where Frodeno lost out with his 102.82 overall score being weighed down by his 88.10 from Challenge Gran Canaria. Unfortunately the weather at IRONMAN California ended his racing year prematurely.
Without becoming too technical and explaining the algorithm in detail, an athlete’s score for a single race is based around their time – and not finishing position. The base is 100 points and the variance below or above depends on their time compared to what the PTO calls the ‘Ideal Time’ for that specific race.
As for which races are points-eligible, within reason it brings in any non-drafting race which has at least a minimum professional prize pool and is greater than Olympic distance.
Final 2021 PTO Rankings – Men
The leading men, as of December 6, 2021 (with no further scoring races in 2021), were as follows (prize money in brackets):
- 1. Gustav Iden (NOR) 109.62 ($100,000)
- 2. Jan Frodeno (GER) 102.82 ($90,000)
- 3. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 100.89 ($80,000)
- 4. Sam Long (USA) 99.41 ($70,000)
- 5. Patrick Lange (GER) 99.26 ($60,000)
- 6. Daniel Bækkegård (DEN) 99.22 ($50,000)
- 7. Joe Skipper (GBR) 96.88 ($45,000)
- 8. Ben Kanute (USA) 95.45 ($40,000)
- 9. Florian Angert (GER) 95.24 ($35,000)
- 10. Rudy Von Berg (USA) 94.21 ($30,000)
- 11. Kristian Hogenhaug (DEN) 93.91 ($25,000)
- 12. Jackson Laundry (CAN) 93.87 ($20,000)
- 13. Sam Appleton (AUS) 92.59 ($18,000)
- 14. Magnus Ditlev (DEN) 91.95 ($16,000)
- 15. Rasmus Svenningsson (SWE) 90.77 ($15,000)
- 16. Matt Hanson (USA) 90.15 ($14,000)
- 17. Denis Chevrot (FRA) 89.52 ($13,000)
- 18. Braden Currie (NZL) 89.48 ($12,000)
- 19. Frederic Funk (GER) 89.31 ($11,000)
- 20. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 88.13 ($10,000)
Final 2021 PTO Rankings – Women
The leading women, as of December 6, 2021, were as follows (prize money in brackets):
- 1. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 107.65 ($100,000)
- 2. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 107.07 ($90,000)
- 3. Laura Philipp (GER) 106.36 ($80,000)
- 4. Taylor Knibb (USA) 104.57 ($70,000)
- 5. Anne Haug (GER) 104.54 ($60,000)
- 6. Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR) 102.08 ($50,000)
- 7. Skye Moench (USA) 101.78 ($45,000)
- 8. Jeanni Metzler (RSA) 101.23 ($40,000)
- 9. Kat Matthews (GBR) 100.09 ($35,000)
- 10. Paula Findlay (CAN) 99.65 ($30,000)
- 11. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 94.40 ($25,000)
- 12. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 93.40 ($20,000)
- 13. Heather Jackson (USA) 93.15 ($18,000)
- 14. Jackie Hering (USA) 91.55 ($16,000)
- 15. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 90.21 ($15,000)
- 16. Lisa Norden (SWE) 88.61 ($14,000)
- 17. Tamara Jewett (CAN) 87.55 ($13,000)
- 18. Carrie Lester (AUS) 87.22 ($12,000)
- 19. Jodie Stimpson (GBR) 84.47 ($11,000)
- 20. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 84.47 ($10,000)
PTO 2021 Race For The Rankings
Like we said, the PTO dished out $2million at the end of the year based on the final rankings positions of pro athletes.
