PTO US Open moves to Milwaukee alongside USA Triathlon National Championships

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has announced a second of its 2023 Tour events. The PTO US Open will take place in Milwaukee on Aug. 4 and 5. The races will happen at the same time USA Triathlon is hosting its National Championships.

The event is expected to attract over 7,000 athletes and 20,000 spectators, which will alleviate one of the criticisms of last year’s PTO US Open held in Texas, which saw very few spectators.

The 100 km course (2-km swim, 80-km bike and 18-km run) will take place on “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,” according to a release from the PTO today.

“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,” said PTO CEO Sam Renouf. “Having worked with USAT last year, we’re building a great understanding and have a very clear vision for this year’s races.”

Last year’s PTO US Open was won by Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle, with American Taylor Knibb making an impressive return to racing with a runner-up finish. Knibb says she’ll try to add the event to her schedule – she’ll deep in the qualifying process for the 2024 Olympics at that time, so it will be interesting to see if the reigning 70.3 world champ will be in attendance. American Collin Chartier won the men’s race last year and is planning to defend his title in Milwaukee.

“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,” said USA Triathlon Chief Sport Development Officer Tim Yount. “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 and we look forward to celebrating our multisport community with so many.”

This is the second of the five events on the PTO Tour that have been confirmed – last week the organization announced the PTO Asian Open which will take place in Singapore.