Jan Frodeno and Kristian Blummenfelt highlight PTO US Open men’s race

While he needed a wild card invite to get to the race, no one is expecting Jan Frodeno to be anything but a major player in tomorrow’s Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) US Open in Milwaukee. All eyes are on the German and fellow Olympic gold-medalist Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) heading into the 100 km race which starts at 4:15 pm local time (5:15 pm EST).

With US$100,000 of the $600,000 prize purse going to the men’s and women’s winners, there’s more than a few big names on hand in search of a big payday, and while the two Olympic champs will be getting lots of attention, there are more than a few men in the field who will be happy to pull a “Max Neumann” and grab a win ahead of Blummenfelt (who was second at the PTO European Open) and Frodeno (who took fourth).

Highlighting that list is Dane Magnus Ditlev, who took third in Ibiza in May, then decimated Frodeno’s Roth course record last month. There’s also a long list of athletes we’re used to seeing dominate middle-distance events in North America – Sam Long is racing just a few days after he and partner Lara Gruden welcomed their son Leonardo to the world, Lionel Sanders arrives fresh off his first 70.3 win of the year, Ben Kanute will be itching to continue his strong racing ways that saw him take second at the 70.3 worlds last year. You can add Canadian Jackson Laundry to that list, too.

You can see the full list of competitors here.

How to watch

You can watch the live stream of the event on PTO+.

The PTO will also be providing blog coverage and live data, which you can access here.

What to expect

Blummenfelt has made it abundantly clear that he’s determined to get a PTO Open win – he’s finished second in the two Open events he’s participated in – Canada last year, and Ibiza this year. As the Norwegian gears up to try and defend his Olympic title next year, his draft-legal performances have been steadily improving, which likely sets him up nicely for a race of this distance.

As one of the best swimmers in the sport, Frodeno would love to be part of a breakaway group that gets clear starting in the water. With the likes of Aussie Josh Amberger and late entry Matt Sharpe (CAN), along with Kanute and another Aussie Olympian, Aaron Royle, that is very much a possibility.

Ditlev, though, is likely to power his way towards the front and could haul the rest of the big players up to the front along with him. If some other big names can hang on to the Dane’s punishing pace as he drives to the front we could end up with a straggler or two off the front chased by a group of strong runners as they hit T2. Some of the folks you should look out for if that happens are New Zealand’s Braden Currie, who was in fine form in winning in Cairns in June and France’s Clement Mignon, who has won every race he’s finished this year – the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in Ibiza and Ironman France.

I did say watch out for those guys, but it’s hard to imagine that if Blummenfelt is part of that group there will be anyone who can run with the reigning Ironman 70.3 world champ. A healthy and fit Jan Frodeno might be able to, though, and the German has said that he’s had a steady block of training leading up to this race as he gears up for one last Ironman World Championship in Nice.

At the end of the day, what we can expect is some very fast racing – it should make for an exciting show.

We’ll have a women’s preview posted tomorrow.