The second event on the 2023 PTO Tour has been confirmed – the US Open in Milwaukee on 4-5 August, which will run alongside USA Triathlon’s National Championships event.
Partnering with Sports Milwaukee to host and with over 7,000 participants and 20,000 spectators expected to attend, it promises to be one of the largest ever weekends of triathlon in North America.
The Professional Triathletes Organisation’s inaugural US Open took place in Dallas in September 2022, with Ashleigh Gentle and Collin Chartier taking the titles.
American star Taylor Knibb, #4 in the world rankings, led for much of the day before finishing second and she said: “This is great news and I’ll definitely be trying to plan the race into my schedule and then go one better in 2023.”
Working in tandem with USAT
A specially designed course around Milwaukee, which is adjacent to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Henry Maier Festival Park and Discovery World along the shore of Lake Michigan, will host the world’s top female and male professional triathletes as they battle it out over the 100km PTO Tour distance (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run).
Athletes will swim in Lake Michigan, which provides cool water temperatures and a breakwater in Milwaukee’s bay. The bike course traverses down Lincoln Memorial Drive while the run course travels out along Lake Michigan on paved trails through the scenic Veterans Park, returning on the shaded Lincoln Memorial Drive.
Commenting on the news, PTO CEO Sam Renouf said: “Partnering with USA Triathlon at their National Championships in Milwaukee will give our professionals a fantastic backdrop to this year’s PTO US Open as well as vociferous support. Having worked with USAT last year, we’re building a great understanding and have a very clear vision for this year’s races.”
USA Triathlon Chief Sport Development Officer Tim Yount added: “With three days of all-day racing we are able to host three distinctly different events – sprint and Olympic-distance national championships, Zone3 Youth and Junior Nationals, and the PTO US Open – and give every competing athlete their well-deserved time in the spotlight.”
“This triathlon festival will showcase one of the things that makes our sport both unique and great – athletes ages 7 to 87, age group and professional, from all over the U.S. and around the globe, racing at the same venue over the same weekend.”
Avoiding Nice clash
In its first season, the PTO US Open was part of a three-race PTO Tour and this Milwaukee weekend builds on last week’s announcement that the 2023 Tour will go to Asia for the first time, when the PTO Asian Open is staged in Singapore on 19-20 August.
That event is in close proximity to the 70.3 Worlds in Finland a week later but there are currently no such obvious clashes for the US Open’s new date right at the start of that month.
Had it stayed in mid-September the quality of the men’s field would likely have been diluted by the IRONMAN World Championship which will take place in Nice for the first time on 10 September.
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