PTO European Open to return to Ibiza in 2024 with European champions set to be crowned for first time

The PTO European Open will return to Ibiza next year with the title of ‘European champion’ now at stake.

The 2024 winners will be crowned European champions after the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) agreed a new partnership with World Triathlon that recognises the 2024 PTO Tour as the official World Championship Tour of long distance triathlon.

The announcement was made by the PTO and Spanish Triathlon Federation (FETRI).

“We’ve been very clear with our strategy for the PTO Tour,” explained PTO CEO Sam Renouf.

“It’s about getting the world’s best triathletes competing head-to-head over our new 100km distance (2km swim/80km bike/18km run) in iconic locations around the world and then broadcast to a global audience.

“Then we build other amateur race opportunities around that, from equivalent 100km races with regional titles at stake for amateurs, to shorter events that create a festival-like atmosphere of swim, bike and run. Last year’s inaugural event proved very successful, so we’re excited to be returning and working with the Spanish Triathlon Federation and Ibiza again.”

In addition to the PTO Tour professional races that will see the world’s top-ranked 20 female and male triathletes compete, the event will also host a PTO European Open 100km race for age groupers, following a similar blueprint to the one successfully deployed by the PTO and USA Triathlon in Milwaukee in August 2023.

This year’s European Open men’s race had the last three Olympic champions – Jan Frodeno (2008), Alistair Brownlee (2012 & 2016) and Kristrian Blummenfelt (2020) – competing against each other for the first time, but the show was stolen by Australian Neumann who held them all off in a stunning victory.

The women’s event saw a brilliant race, with Germany’s Haug running down Great Britain’s new Ironman world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay.

Spanish Triathlon Federation president, Jose Hidalgo added: “In the Spanish Triathlon Federation we are very pleased to renew this agreement with the PTO to hold their races in Ibiza.

“Spain has always been a pioneering country and we have always believed that the collaboration of all the actors and organizers of this sport is paramount to make it bigger and more important.”

This year’s course saw the swim take place at Figueretas Beach, before the athletes headed out on their bikes towards San Antonio on a multiple laps bike course and then finished with a run that went past Ibiza Port and into the World Heritage area of the city. Further further details on next year’s route will be announced in due course.