The top three in the world rankings and the reigning IRONMAN World Champion add up to a stellar women’s field for the PTO Asian Open in Singapore on 19 August.
Just like the men’s line-up which was announced 24 hours earlier, the fact the 70.3 Worlds are a week later in Finland doesn’t seem to have diminished the quality of the line-up at all.
PTO #1 Ashleigh Gentle (AUS), #2 Anne Haug (GER) and #3 Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) will lock horns again just as they did at the PTO European Open in Ibiza where Haug came out on top as the trio filled the top three steps on the podium.
And they’ll be joined by Chelsea Sodaro, who produced that stunning performance in the IMWC at Kona last October.
Haug looking for Ibiza repeat
It underlines the PTO’s commitment to having the very best race against the very best on a regular basis and in total the first 14 names of the 20-athlete field have been announced and they cover nine different countries.
Australian Gentle, winner of both PTO Opens in 2022 and second in this year’s European Open, said: “I have raced in Singapore a couple of times. Once when I was super young, at an Asian Cup and then at the start of 2019.
“So I have a feel for the place, but obviously, with the PTO Asian Open the race experience will go to the next level for the professionals – but also for the amateurs who have the opportunity to race the same 100km course around what is an iconic city.”
Germany’s Haug is looking to repeat her outstanding Ibiza win and said: “Competing against the best in the world really pushes me to get the best out of myself and to see how good you can be. These PTO Tour races do exactly that.”
Two more automatic qualifiers will be confirmed in due course and four wildcard selections will also be added this Friday.
PTO Asian Open Start List – Women
- 1. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)
- 2. Anne Haug (GER)
- 3. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR)
- 4. Chelsea Sodaro (USA)
- 5. Fenella Langridge (GBR)
- 6. Jocelyn McCauley (USA)
- 7. Marjolaine Pierré (FRA)
- 8. Sara Perez Sala (ESP)
- 9. Sarah True (USA)
- 10. Lotte Wilms (NED)
- 11. Jackie Hering (USA)
- 12. Ellie Salthouse (AUS)
- 13. Rebecca Clarke (NZL)
- 14. Jeanni Metzler (RSA)
Racing to keep up: Is social media making us train harder?
