Supertri is set to shake up the professional triathlon landscape with a major overhaul of its competition structure and the introduction of the largest single-day prize purse the sport has ever seen. A total of $800,000 will be on the line at the Supertri Pro Series Final, a new championship event designed to serve as the season-ending highlight of the Supertri Pro Series.
The road to that Final will run through three Supertri Pro Series events earlier in the year: Austin (May 25), Blenheim (June 6), and Toronto (July 26). In a notable departure from Supertri’s traditional formats, these races will be contested over Sprint Distance courses, with drafting permitted.
Another significant change is that professional athletes will race the same event and course as age-group competitors at these three races. Supertri will temporarily step away from its signature short-course, multi-stage formats in favor of a more conventional Sprint Distance setup.
At each of the three Pro Series races, the top three professional athletes per gender will qualify for the Supertri Pro Series Final. The Final itself – with the date and location still to be announced – will mark a return to the classic Supertri format, including the now-infamous ‘short chute’ which allows athletes to cut small sections of the course under specific conditions.
With a total prize purse of $800,000, Supertri surpasses Ironman as the sport’s most lucrative single-day triathlon event. For comparison, the Ironman World Championship in Kona offers a total of $750,000 in prize money. Supertri’s prize purse will be paid out ten deep, with the winner taking home $100,000 and the athlete finishing tenth earning $14,000.
The list of athletes competing in the Supertri Pro Series is expected to be announced soon.
