London, UK – The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has announced updates to the 2026 PTO World Ranking System to maintain its relevance and simplicity in the evolving professional triathlon landscape.
Changes to the system, developed and voted on by the PTO Athlete Board, focus on rewarding athlete consistency in light of recent athlete trends towards more racing. The average number of race finishes per year for the top 10 ranked athletes has gone from 5.8 in 2022 to 7.6 in 2025, with both the T100 Triathlon World Tour and IRONMAN Pro Series playing a large part in athletes’ calendars.
For 2026, the number of races eligible for scoring in the PTO World Ranking System moves from three to four within the rolling 52-week period. There will be no limit to the number of full or middle-distance events that count within those four results, with athletes free to choose which distances they wish to pursue to make up their total.
The Athlete Board also chose to remove the 5% bonus previously awarded to each athlete’s single best performance in Gold or lower tier events, simplifying this area of the system and avoiding inflated scores that do not reflect the true strength of field at each race.
The remainder of the system continues to operate as is, with athletes receiving a composite score made up of their race position, strength of field and race time. The final calculation being the average of each athlete’s best four race scores.
PTO CEO Sam Renouf said: “Since the PTO World Ranking System was first introduced, the Athlete Board has listened to athlete feedback and monitored racing trends to ensure the system fits the current racing environment. Having a way to consistently rank athlete performances is a cornerstone of many sports and even more important in long-distance triathlon across different race types and series. These updates ensure the PTO WRS stays in step with changing athlete behaviours as the sport continues to evolve.”
Commenting on the changes, the PTO Athlete Board said: “The updates to the 2026 PTO World Ranking System reflect the changing sport with athletes racing more and the T100 and IRONMAN Pro Series becoming established on the professional calendar. With no limitation on the number of middle or full-distance events within the four counting races, the 2026 PTO WRS continues to meet the core principles of being transparent, objective and fair regardless of pro athletes’ racing preferences. Meanwhile, the removal of the 5% bonus on certain races makes it simpler and easier to understand for athletes and fans.”
The 2026 PTO WRS will also prove crucial in the selection of athletes to T100 Triathlon World Tour events. Following the automatic offer of a race start to the top-10 athletes in the T100 Race To Qatar standings, eight slots per race will be offered to athletes based on PTO World Rankings. The 2026 PTO WRS therefore gives a clearer pathway for athletes seeking to gain T100 starts this season and race against the best in the world. With the changes to the PTO WRS in place, the Contender Ranking system used in 2025 will not be used in 2026.
The latest published ranking set, dated 1 January 2026, reflects the updated PTO World Ranking System changes. The latest women’s rankings can be found here and the latest men’s rankings can be found here. Full details of how the PTO World Ranking System works can be found here.
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About Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO)
The PTO is a sports body that is co-owned by its professional athletes, seeking to elevate and grow the sport of triathlon and take it to the next level. Its T100 Triathlon World Tour was introduced in January 2024 and is designated by World Triathlon as the ‘official World Championship for long distance triathlon’, which is part of a 12-year strategic partnership with the sport’s international governing body. The T100 Triathlon World Tour is a season-long schedule of World Championship level races competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run), where the world’s best triathletes go head-to-head in iconic locations on a global broadcast showing the races live around the world in 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as well as a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters.
In 2026 these will include: the Gold Coast (21-22 March), Singapore (25-26 April), Spain (23-24 May), San Francisco (6-7 June), Vancouver (15-16 August), French Riviera (19-20 September), Dubai (12-15 November), Saudi Arabia (November) and Qatar for the second Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final (11-12 December). T100 weekends are ‘festivals of multisport’ and feature a range of opportunities for amateur athletes of all levels to get involved. From experienced amateurs tackling the 100km distance to first-time swim, bike and run participants taking on single discipline, untimed events. For more information visit www.t100triathlon.com
