PTO enlivens Daytona with 4 more Wildcard Spots
The all-star cast for the PTO 2020 Championships at Challenge-Daytona just got hotter as the next four wildcard spots are released.
To further strengthen what is already shaping up to be the strongest field of triathletes ever assembled for the landmark $1,000,000 million purse. the Professional Triathlon Organisation have published the next four wildcard spots.
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Broadly speaking, there are three main categories of athletes who will be considered for a wildcard selection:
1) Previous Historical Performance
2) Up and Coming Athletes
3) World Class ITU Short Course Athletes
WHO’S IN
The second 4 wildcard spots have gone to World Class ITU Short Course Athletes as follows:
Bermudian star Flora Duffy, coming off a recent victory at the Karlovy Vary World Cup and a dominant display in the Arzachena World Cup event in Sardinia last weekend, posting the fastest swim, bike and run splits in the latter.
Since 2014, when she won XTERRA World Championships in Maui, she has gained three more XTERRA world titles, two ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships and—most notably—two ITU World Championships and is now in preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This race might be a new style of swim-bike-run for Bermuda’s sporting hero but she is no stranger to longer distance racing having won her debut Ironman 70.30 in South Africa in 2019.
Gustav Iden becomes the second Norwegian triathlete to earn a wild card spot, He competes within the ITU World Triathlon Series, ITU Triathlon World Cup, Super League Triathlon and 70.3 Ironman distance. In 2019 he became the youngest (age 23) ever winner of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
Jess Learmonth is the second Brit to earn a female wildcard spot. Part of GB’s World-Class Performance Squad Learmonth has won an ETU European title (2017), a Commonwealth silver in both Mixed Relay and Elite Women races (2018), as well as multiple World Triathlon Series medals including silver at the 2019 Grand Final Lausanne. The longer distance will certainly be a major transition, but she is one of the fastest swimmers on the short course circuit and has strong bike and run skills.
The fourth wildcard spot takes into account previous historical performance with the selection of the legendary Tim Don an English triathlete recognised for having set an Ironman record at the 2017 Ironman South American Championship.
His biography below tells its own story:
- 4 X World Champion ( Junior Triathlon 1998 , Duathlon 2002 , Aquathon 2005 , Senior Triathlon 2006 )
- 3 X Olympian
- 4 X British National Champion
- Multiple World Cup winner and podium finisher
PTO announce first 4 wildcard spots for 2020 Championship – WHO’S IN at Challenge Daytona
They join the first four wildcard choices of Vincent Luis, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Kristian Blummenfelt and Nicola Spirig have all been selected to join the 80 automatic qualifiers on the start line for the PTO 2020 Championship.
The top 80 men and women in PTO World Rankings who automatically qualify can be found here
