PTO reveals full teams for first-ever Collins Cup

The Professional Triathlete’s Organisation (PTO) has today revealed the full teams for the inaugural Collins Cup, which is due to take place later this month.

Eight triathletes qualified for each of the three teams earlier this week via the automatic qualification spots, which are based on the athletes’ performances over the past two or three years.

Athlete’s with automatic qualification included German aces Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange, plus multiple Ironman champ Daniela Ryf. A strong British contingent also qualified, including Joe Skipper, Holly Lawrence and Lucy Charles-Barclay. Joining them was serial winner Lionel Sanders and Ironman regular Heather Jackson.

Today, the team captains of each team have revealed their picks for the final four spots in each team. Among them were two more Brits in the form of Kat Matthews and Emma Pallant-Browne, 2014 Ironman world champion Sebastian Kienle and Australian powerhouse Sarah Crowley.

There were a couple of surprises in store too, with recent Olympic medallists Katie Zaferes and Taylor Knibb landing a place despite them both having limited middle- and long-distance experience. In fact, Knibb only made her middle-distance debut at IM 70.3 Boulder on 7 August, although she did take second place.

Check out the full team line-ups below.

Who’s in Team Europe?

The eight athletes to gain a spot via automatic qualification were:

• Jan Frodeno (GER)
• Daniela Ryf (SUI)
• Gustav Iden (NOR)
• Anne Haug (GER)
• Joe Skipper (GBR)
• Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR)
• Patrick Lange (GER)
• Holly Lawrence (GBR)

Team captains Normann Stadler and Natascha Badmann (who recently replaced Chrissie Wellington) have now confirmed their four picks to complete the team:

• Kat Matthews (GBR)
• Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR)
• Sebastian Kienle (GER)
• Daniel Bækkegård (DEN)

Who’s in Team USA?

The eight athletes who achieved automatic qualification to Team USA were:

• Sam Long
• Skye Moench
• Rudy Von Berg
• Heather Jackson
• Matt Hanson
• Jackie Hering
• Ben Kanute
• Chelsea Sodaro

Team USA captains Mark Allen and Karen Smyers have also picked:

• Katie Zaferes
• Taylor Knibb
• Chris Leiferman
• Justin Metzler

Who’s in Team International?

Team International’s eight automatic qualifiers were:

• Lionel Sanders (CAN)
• Teresa Adam (NZL)
• Braden Currie (NZL)
• Paula Findlay (CAN)
• Samuel Appleton (AUS)
• Carrie Lester (AUS)
• Max Neumann (AUS)
• Jeanni Metzler (RSA)

Captains Lisa Bentley and Simon Whitfield have also picked:

• Ellie Salthouse (AUS)
• Sarah Crowley (AUS)
• Jackson Laundry (CAN)
• Kyle Smith (NZL)

What is the Collins Cup?

Taking inspiration from golf’s Ryder Cup and organised by the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), the competition is due to take place on 28 August 2021 and will pit the three teams above against each other in pursuit of glory and a prize purse of $1.15m.

The race itself will be a middle-distance non-drafting format (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run) with each team putting forward one athlete to race against each other in a three-person ‘matchplay’ battle.

Each team member will need to battle their own three-person individual contest. The 12 races will be staggered 10 minutes apart with the points from each individual race deciding who will be crowned overall winners.

Top image credit: Stephen Pond/Getty Images for Challenge Triathlon