Alistair Brownlee sets sights on PTO Tour US Open, Kat Matthews and Lucy Charles-Barclay lead women’s field

Alistair Brownlee will be aiming to continue his strong form at the inaugural Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) US Open in Dallas.

The event on September 18 is the last on the PTO Tour this year and athletes will be competing for a prize purse of $1m (£855,885).

Two-time Olympic champion Brownlee has looked impressive recently in victories in Swansea and Sweden.

The US Open features 22 of the top 30 in the PTO world rankings, including world No. 3 Magnus Ditlev, world No. 4 Lionel Sanders, world No. 5 Brownlee, world No. 6 Daniel Baekkegard and world No. 7 Florian Angert.

There will also be seven athletes from the USA, led by world No. 11 Sam Long.

“I enjoyed finally letting my racing do the talking at the Collins Cup with Lionel Sanders, but I’ll be looking to go one better on home soil at the PTO US Open,” said the 26-year-old.

“I always enjoy racing in the US and have been fortunate enough to notch up a couple of wins at Chattanooga, so I’m hoping I can continue that trend in Dallas.”

In the women’s race, which takes place on September 17, British duo Kat Matthews and Lucy Charles-Barclay will be among the leading contenders.

Charles-Barclay is competing in her first PTO Tour event following victory at the World Triathlon Long Distance Championship in August.

World No. 6 Ashleigh Gentle is coming off victory at the PTO Canadian Open while world No. 7 Taylor Knibb is the top-ranked American woman in the field.

All PTO Tour races are over a total distance of 100km made up of a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run.

They feature the top 40 athletes in the world rankings and five wild cards.

Racing takes place on a specially designed course in Las Colinas where fans will see the athletes as many as 12 times during the event.

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