British athletes Alistair Brownlee and Lucy Charles-Barclay will be on the start line when the new-look T100 Triathlon World Tour launches on Saturday in Miami.
London is set to host a leg of the tour, which has been expanded to eight races and rebranded from the PTO Tour as part of a major relaunch, in July.
But first, the world’s leading long-distance triathletes – including double Olympic champion Brownlee and reigning Ironman champ Charles-Barclay – will kick off the season in Florida.
The men’s and women’s T100 races take place on Saturday over the made-for-TV distance of 100km (2km swim, 80km bike, 20km run), broadcast in the UK by Eurosport.
Brownlee and Charles-Barclay are vying for a prize fund of $2m (£1.6m) over the eight races, with a bonus pool of $2m for the end-of-season T100 World Champions and top-ranked athletes.
“I’m excited to get stuck in,” said Brownlee, 35, who won Olympic gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
“I feel like I can still be competitive. I want a good crack at this series, to try to win the title. While it’s not what it was 20 years ago, my engine is still good.”
Ahead of the races at the Clash Endurance Miami triathlon festival, which take place on the local Nascar circuit, Charles-Barclay has been repeating the gruelling training that led her to success in the Ironman World Championships at Kona last year.
“The workload in the pain cave has been cranking up and I’m excited to kick off the race season,” she said.
The T100 Tour, which will also call at Dubai, Singapore and Ibiza, has attracted interest from potential investors as organisers consider another funding round.
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has hired London-based advisory firm Oakvale Capital with a view to raising around $40m (£31m), Sky News reported.
A PTO spokesperson told City A.M.: “Interest like this is further validation of the T100’s potential to take triathlon mainstream.
“We’re excited to get the T100 series kicked off this weekend in Miami at the CLASH Endurance Miami triathlon festival and are all focused on a dynamic season of racing.”