PTO World Rankings

PTO World Rankings explained

The PTO World Rankings is a first-of-its-kind ranking technology to measure the world’s greatest half and full distance professional triathletes. It is a worldwide benchmark of consistent excellence in Triathlon, and it is used to determine the automatic qualifying places for The Collins Cup.

The PTO World Rankings has a proprietary formula that does not favour any particular series of races or geographical area, but instead measures talent and achievement based on the results of an athlete no matter where and when they choose to race.

The PTO in association with TRiRating.com, has analysed each race course to determine the theoretical Ideal Time that the top ranked athlete would likely achieve. Using proprietary algorithms, this Ideal Time is then adjusted based on the conditions of the race day to determine the Adjusted Ideal Time (AIT). An athlete’s PTO World Ranking points for his or her race will then be based on their race time set against the Adjusted Ideal Time.

If an athlete equals the AIT for any eligible race, they receive 100 world ranking points. If an athlete is faster than the AIT, they are awarded an additional point or fraction of a point for each .15% by which they beat the AIT. If they are slower than the Adjusted Ideal Time, they will lose an additional point or fraction of a point for every .15% slower.

Athletes are ranked based on the aggregate number of world ranking points they have earned for their four best races over a 24-month period preceding the date of calculation. There is a 5% bonus for an athlete’s best full distance race and a 10% deduction for points earned for a race that falls outside the most recent 12 months preceding the date of calculation.