The World Triathlon Executive Board has approved the allocation of US$120,000 in prize money for the Paris Test Event taking place this August. The event will see elite athletes and elite para-athletes competing on the courses of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The men’s and women’s individual triathlon races will each offer US$30,000 in prize money, while the Para Cup will have a total of US$60,000 distributed equally among the male and female paratriathlete categories.
This allocation of funds to reward all the athletes competing in Paris will come from the World Triathlon reserve fund. World Triathlon will announce in the coming weeks the exact distribution of prize money for the event, that will see the total World Triathlon Prize Purse for 2023 pass the US$3.5 million mark, with the Executive Board approving that the prize money will also be awarded further down the finisher lists than ever before.
The allocation of prize money for the paratriathletes is in recognition of the importance of the 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Paris for the athletes training to qualify for and aiming to compete in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
‘This is the first time a World Triathlon Para event will have prize money, and serves as a promise that World Triathlon as an organisation is committed to discussing, bringing awareness to and creating ways to professionalise the para side of our sport. World Triathlon is proud to celebrate this momentous event by offering equal prize money to the athletes racing in the Paris Test Event.’
A total of US$3.60 million is to be awarded across the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series and Finals, the Mixed Relay and World Cup races, Multisport and the Paris Test Event, compared to the US$2.96 million distributed in 2022.
At each of the six WTCS events this year, US$200,000 will be distributed among the top 30 male and female athletes, with US$330,200 across the top 40 finishers at September’s men’s and women’s Championship Finals in Pontevedra, Spain. Victory in a WTCS race now earns the winner US$19,000, while gold at the Championship Finals is worth US$30,000.
For the World Cup circuit, the winner’s prize money stands at US$7,500, the same for the U23 World Championship titles. The team that is crowned 2023 Mixed Relay World Champions will win US$25,000..
“The increase in prize money across World Triathlon events in 2023, and especially the effort we have made as an organisation to allocate funds for the Test Event in Paris, once again underscores our commitment to the growth and sustainability of the sport,” said World Triathlon President Marisol Casado.
“There is of course no price that can be put on an Olympic or Paralympic medal, and the qualification points for Paris 2024 are another huge target for the athletes, but being able to extend the depth of finishers receiving prize money, and for the first time including the para athletes that will compete at the Test Event, will have a big impact on their ability to hit more start lines to help reach their Olympic and Paralympic targets.”
