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An event, not artistic, but triathletic, is announced. At Daytona International Speedway, where Nascar race cars roll at 300 km / h, a strange calm reigns on Sunday. Not howling engines and 100,000 screeching fans fill the air in the gigantic oval, but swimmers plowing through the water, racing pilots in buzzing hovercraft, and gasping endurance runners.
“PTO Championship” is the name of the show that sets new standards in triathlon. PTO stands for Professional Triathletes Organization, an association of the best professionals, funded by two American investment firms. His goal: more recognition, more resonance and money for the professionals, as the stars of the scene are called in the jargon. The PTO first made a spectacular appearance shortly after its founding in 2019 when it failed in an attempt to purchase the Ironman brand.
Now you are staging a superlative competition, embedded in a rigid concept of crown protection. Athletes and helpers are picked up at the Daytona airport, screened, and taken to two hotels on the closed track, where they live for a week.
On Sunday, 120 selected triathletes will start over 2km of swimming, 80km of cycling and 18km of running, including Nicola Spirig, Andrea Salvisberg, Ruedi Wild and Philipp Koutny from Switzerland. Only Hawaii winners Daniela Ryf, Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange are missing from the top cracks. For the first time, the short and long distance elites meet. Bottom line: Daytona is the race of the year and the best manned race in triathlon history.
As hot as french fries
This is also due to the prize money, which even overshadows the Hawaiian myth. A fabulous $ 1.2 million is on offer, an astronomical sum for triathletes. The winner raises $ 100,000, including the last $ 2,500.
Roger Federer stretches a rope for those peanuts, but triathletes seem like a bonanza, especially in the epidemic year in which triathlon almost landed. Former Hawaii winner Sebastian Kienle (De) says, on behalf of many, that he is “hot as chips” – for the competition, the best and the money “you can make the season with.”
Nicola Spirig minimizes the attractive prize money, for her the race serves “as a motivation to train qualitatively well for the Olympic Games”. The truth is probably somewhere in between, in the words of Canadian Lionel Sanders: “If you only run for the money, you will be destroyed.”
The professionals agree on the location. “Perfect for our sport,” says the tenor, and there is “a great atmosphere” in the temple of motorsports. Philipp Koutny speaks of a “revolution” and praises “new approaches and the spectacular route”. Indeed, the championship promises to be an event: a quick three-hour quickie instead of endless solitude like in Hawaii.
Drama, baby, drama!
Swimming takes place in Lake Lloyd, within the 115-hectare track. On the ultra-flat but windy bike course (20 laps of 4 kilometers each) and while racing (four laps of 4.5 kilometers each), speed studs are used until the asphalt glows. You expect record times, ruthless duels, and drama, honey, drama! Some people will count the wrong laps, ignore the 20-meter draft rule, mess up the catering and dominate, and sink in the face of ever-present competition.
Who will win the “Thrilla of Daytona”? The men’s race is like a lucky bag. Spirig is a women’s favorite, although it is deeply ingrained: “I prefer the mountainous sections, but I do the best I can and see what comes out.” Well then, good luck finding the million dollar bonanza!
PTO Championship in Daytona / Florida. Live broadcast on Sunday on Ard.de starting at 4 pm CET (women) and 8 pm (men).
