Small but very competitive field announced for PTO Asian Open
Norwegian stars Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden highlight a fiercely competitive field
There might only be 20 men on the start list, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to see an insanely competitive day of racing at the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) Asian Open in Singapore on Aug. 20.
The top seven men in the PTO World Rankings will be on hand, led by #1 Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), #2 Gustav Iden (NOR) and #3 Magnus Ditlev (DEN). Sitting #5 in the rankings is Australian Max Neumann, who took the PTO European Open ahead of Blummenfelt in May.
Here’s the list of automatic qualifiers (the top-10 from the June 12 ranking and 11 to 16 from the July 10 ranking) who have accepted slots for the race in Singapore:
- Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR)
- Gustav Iden (NOR)
- Magnus Ditlev (DEN)
- Sam Laidlow (FRA)
- Max Neumann (AUS)
- Sam Long (USA)
- Ben Kanute (USA)
- Daniel Baekkegard (DEN)
- Aaron Royle (AUS)
- Pieter Heemeryck (BEL)
- Florian Angert (GER)
- Jason West (USA)
- Bradley Weiss (SA)
- Denis Chevrot (FRA)
Blummenfelt is planning a busy 10 days of racing around the Singapore event – he’ll be at the Paris Test Event (presumably Iden will also be there) on Aug. 18, fly to Singapore for that race on the 20th, then fly back to Europe in order to defend his Ironman 70.3 world title in Lahti, Finland, on Aug. 27.
“I want to race the best athletes, when the prize fund is high and it’s all on the line,” Blummenfelt said. “That is exactly what it’s like in a PTO Tour race, so the PTO Asian Open is another great opportunity for me to perform and as I’ve said many times before, I love to win and I hate to lose.”
Like the other PTO Open events, the race features a $600,000 prize purse split between the men and women. The winner takes home US$100,000, with the runner-up earning $50,000 and third-place netting $35,000.
The women’s field will be announced tomorrow, with the wildcards announced on Friday.
