Taylor Knibb, Ashleigh Gentle and Paula Findlay highlight PTO US Open
Canadian Tamara Jewett also arrives as pre-race favourite in Milwaukee
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PTO
Kat Matthews might have impressed the fans at the Milwaukee Brewrers game last with her impressive opening pitch, but her competition isn’t likely to give her much ground just because she displayed a decent arm. The British star continues her impressive comeback after a terrible bike accident leading into the Ironman World Championship last year, but she’ll have to be at her very best to take on the rest of the stacked field in Milwaukee.
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Leading the way is defending PTO US Open champ Ashleigh Gentle, who managed to put together a stellar run in the oppressive Dallas heat last year to pass Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb to take the $100,000 prize purse.
Gentle arrives in Milwaukee for tomorrow’s race as one of the favourites, but Knibb arrives in much better shape than she was a year ago when she was coming back from a foot injury. Knibb, the reigning Ironman 70.3 world champion, is also in full Olympic-distance form as she gears up for the upcoming Paris Test event and her chance to go after another Olympic medal next year. Then we add Canadian Paula Findlay to the mix, who is gearing up for an appearance at the UCI Time Trial World Championship next week, but will certainly be in fine triathlon form as, in a few weeks, she’ll also be looking to try and move up a step on the podium in Lahti for the 70.3 worlds after her silver medal performance behind Knibb last year.
While those three will be wearing the first three numbers in the race, another Canadian, Tamara Jewett, will be another to watch. Certainly one of the fastest runners in the sport – only Anne Haug has posted times even close – Jewett has improved her swim and bike legs dramatically over the last year. If she can stay in touch into T2, she’ll certainly be in contention.
Defending Ironman world champion Chelsea Sodaro hasn’t had a great season so far, but if she’s back in the form that saw her storm to a huge win in Kona last year, she’ll certainly be one to watch, too. 2016 Ironman 70.3 world champ Holly Lawrence has always been strong through the swim and the bike – we’ll see if she’s able to get enough space to hold off the rest of the field through the run.
You can see the full pro list here.
How to watch
You can watch the live stream of the event on PTO+. The women’s race will start at 4:15 local time, 5:15 EST on Saturday, August 5.
The PTO will also be providing blog coverage and live data, which you can access here.
