The next leg of the 2025 Ultimate Pro Triathlon Tour is coming to London in August, on the back of the announcement of a potential new $20 million investment into the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO).
The T100 Triathlon World Tour takes the world’s best professional triathletes on a world tour encompassing 9 races as they fight it out to be crowned T100 triathlon World Champion.
At each event 20 women and 20 men line up, competing for a slice of the $250,000 prize money. They are also competing for T100 standings points, which will see the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Champion receive an additional $200,000.
Each T100 race consists of a 2km swim, an 80km bike ride and an18km run. There are two types of contracted athletes; those who finished in the top 10 in the series last year, plus discretional ‘hotshots’, exciting new talent selected to spice things up in the race. There is also an opportunity for wildcards to be selected, mainly established athletes coming back from injury or maternity.
Launched In 2024 as a direct competitor to Ironman, the inaugural year was a mixed bag, particularly financially. With £7million upfront compensation for athletes (guaranteed income if they fulfill their race commitments) it attracted most of the top talent in the sport, resulting in some quality races and great competition, with eight different winners from 14 events. The amateur races running alongside the main event also had healthy attendances, with over 5,000 participants at Singapore and over 9,000 at Dubai.
But the financial side of the business didn’t look as rosy. The main initial investor was Sir Michael Moritz, the billionaire venture capitalist, who was an early investor in Apple, Google and YouTube. The PTO then went through several rounds of funding before and during 2024, and while financial results aren’t public, it looks as though the returns were not particularly healthy. However, the PTO has recently been boosted by a reported $20 million investment by Surj Sports Investment, the sports investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. This investment, believed to be part of an imminent wider PTO funding round, will help cement the T100 events in the global sporting calendar.
In the women’s event, Swiss Julie Derron leads the standings after three races, but there are three Brits in the top five, with Kate Waugh, Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Charles-Barclay all having impressive seasons. No doubt all three will be looking forward to competing in their ‘home’ event in London. The men’s competition is currently being dominated by the 2024 winner, Belgian Marten Van Riel, but with six rounds still the go the competition is wide open.
The London leg of T100 is being held on 9-10 August at the Excel Cente and the Royal Victoria Dock. In addition to the 100km race, there will also be a sprint triathlon and an Olympic triathlon. This event distance, dramatically won at the Paris Olympics last year by Alex Yee, is a mere 1.5km swim, 40km ride and 10km run! But with a general entry price of £420 for amateurs it’s unlikely to attract too many ‘give it a goers’.
With a focus on exotic venues, after London the T100 moves on to the French Riviera, Valencia, Wollongong and Dubai, before reaching its climax in the middle of December in Qatar. With the stated ambition of being the toughest of the tough, the T100 is attempting to create both a glamorous competitive professional sports event alongside a series of amateur events, presumably to encourage competitors to stay and support the elite once their events are done.
With a business model based on participants’ fees as well as media rights, the media receipts are less important, but they are still encouraging. During the 2024 series the PTO claims that dedicated TV and streaming audience figures moved from “seven-figure to eight-figure audiences”. But the full race live traditional broadcast figures are only part of the picture. The PTO got 500 million video views in 2024 (up 150% on 2023), demonstrating a global appetite for the events and with the new backing recently secured it looks as though the Ultimate Pro Triathlon Tour will be a fixture in the global calendar for many years to come.
David Little is a Partner at Bishop & Sewell in our expert Sports Law and Corporate & Commercial
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The above is accurate as at 09 July 2025.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
