The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon have today announced the T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will take place in Dubai on 16-17 November and complete the 2024 T100 Triathlon World Tour calendar for its inaugural season.
“It has always been our ambition to crown our first T100 Triathlon World Champions in a spectacular race at an iconic location. Given the huge interest we’ve seen in Dubai from both the local and international triathlon community, we have decided that Dubai will give the first year of the T100 Triathlon World Tour the series finale it deserves,” explained PTO CEO Sam Renouf. “Dubai will be our largest event of the year, with over 10,000 participants set to compete across a range of distances and individual disciplines. Combining that scale with the stunning backdrop of Meydan racecourse and the Dubai skyline, means we’ll be finishing our inaugural year with a bang.”
“While we originally planned for an eight-race series in 2024 and had been exploring some exciting potential venues, a combination of lining up all the approvals and those locations not being quite ready to hold an event befitting the T100 Triathlon World Championship Final made the decision to move the final to Dubai an easy one in the end.”
The Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will be an integral part of the month-long 2024 Dubai Fitness Challenge, a city-wide initiative that challenges residents and tourists to commit to 30 minutes of daily activity for 30 days, to help kick-start long-term healthy habits. The Dubai Fitness Challenge has become a significant part of the city’s fitness culture over recent years, and a gateway to a more active, fitter future, inspiring thousands to take up new activities, improve their health, and connect with others through shared fitness goals.
In addition to crowning the first T100 World Champions, which are officially recognised by the sports international governing body, World Triathlon, the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will determine the final split of the record $7 million USD prize fund, with $250k being awarded at the race, and a further $2 million for the season-long competition.
“We are proud to have partnered with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) to launch this new series, and to see the highest level of long distance racing in an officially sanctioned World Championship Tour, in the same way the World Triathlon Championship Series supports standard distance Triathlon,” commented Marisol Casado, World Triathlon President and IOC Member. “Dubai is set to be a fantastic conclusion to the series.”
“One of the key tenets of the T100 Triathlon World Tour was to evolve triathlon by bringing a season-long narrative to the sport,” added PTO Chairman Chris Kermode. “This is based on the simple premise behind all sports - fans want to see the best of the best competing, consistently, throughout the year. We are delighted that the T100 has delivered this for triathlon in our inaugural season and will be announcing 2025 calendar dates very soon.”
How the T100 Triathlon World Tour works
- Athletes score 35 points for first place to 1 pt for 20th place at each race
- The Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final has increased points to up the ante (55 pts down to 4 pts)
- Each athlete’s best three T100 race scores plus the Final will count towards the inaugural women’s and men’s T100 World Champions
- $250,000 USD prize fund at each T100, totalling $1,750,000 across the seven races (1st place – $25,000k; 2nd – $16,000; 3rd – $12,000 at each race)
- The series winners following the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will be crowned T100 Triathlon World Champion and collect $210,000 USD from an additional total prize pool of $2,000,000
- Between the athlete contracts, T100 race prize fund and T100 Triathlon World Tour pool, the series provides more than $7,000,000 in athlete compensation, and is distributed in a way that not only rewards the winners, but also recognises the significant achievement of racing at this level
- In light of the series now being seven races, the obligated number of races for contracted T100 athletes has been reduced from five to four, plus the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final.
- For athletes who competed at the Olympics - who were required to complete three T100 races and the Final, but who have not yet competed in a T100 race - they will be able to take their average score from two completed T100 races and count it as a ‘third’ race ahead of the new Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final on 16-17 November.