Rudy von Berg is looking to make an impact on the PTO Tour in 2024 after finishing the year ranked at #7 in their rankings – and scooping their athlete of the month award for November thanks to his record-breaking IRONMAN Florida victory.
The American raced just four times this season due to a broken collarbone but his campaign was bookended by wins at IRONMAN Texas and Florida.
He was also fourth in the first-ever men’s IRONMAN World Championship to be held in Nice but his PTO Tour races so far, the US Open in 2022 and European Open this year, saw him finish 20th and 22nd respectively over the 100km distance.
However he strongly believes they are far from representative of his abilities at that distance, insisting he can be a podium contender even though he is currently seen as more of a full-distance specialist.
End-of-season bonus
Explaining the rationale for his 2024 plans when accepting that November award from the PTO, he underlined the significance of the flexibility that Florida win affords him over the next 12 months.
He said: “I mean Florida was really everything I was aiming for in the last race of the season. I really hit a bunch of goals. I guess one was qualifying for Kona, because that’s part of my plan to do the PTO Tour next year and not have to do too many Ironmans.
“Then, obviously, just get a race win and race bonuses, prize money and all that good stuff – and then climbing the PTO Rankings in order to do the PTO Tour…and perhaps get a better contract. And then I also made $30k or $40k more in the end of the year bonus because I got in the top 10.”
Numbers don’t lie
And it means he really can enjoy the best of all worlds in 2024 as he added: “I’m really on plan for next year having already qualified for Kona. So I hope there’s a good calendar of PTO races that I can focus on and then add a Roth and a Kona and it’d be the perfect race calendar.
I have no doubt in my mind that if I’m on my game I can be on the podium for a 100K race.
“If you look at the first main PTO event we ever had in Daytona in 2020, I was in the mix all day – first off the bike, finished fifth and that was one of the highest-level races of the last few years. And I was right there in the mix and I’m improving.
“Ok, I’ve done a little more long-distance, but it’s really only been a year and a half and if you look at Florida, my 20-minute power was 352 watts in a full [Ironman]. So if you add a little for a 100K, I’m up there on the watts and on the run paces. I’ve done a bunch of threshold workouts so I know I’m there. I just need to work a little on the VO2 max on the upper end.”
All of which is underlined by the fact the 30-year-old has won a near double-figure amount of pro middle-distance races in the past.
He’s also hoping for an incident-free year in 2024 – this season was hindered by the broken collarbone, in 2022 he “had that stomach parasite that made me lose weight” while in 2021 he suffered a nasty attack of mononucleosis.
“So I’m hoping 2024 is the first year where I have a full season with no issue and I can just perform consistently all year,” he signed off by saying.
