Chelsea Sodaro, Taylor Knibb Lead Star-Studded U.S. Women's Field at PTO US Open in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE — The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) today announced the stacked start list for the PTO U.S. Open women’s race in Milwaukee on Aug. 5, featuring world champion Chelsea Sodaro, Olympic medalist Taylor Knibb and hometown star, Jackie Hering.

Hering, who grew up in DeForest, Wisconsin, an hour away from Milwaukee, is delighted to see the race visit her home state, and summed up the group’s determination going into the event: 

“Having grown up in Wisconsin and spent a lot of time in Milwaukee, it is exciting to see the PTO U.S. Open being staged here. There’ll be a huge Wisconsin welcome and loads of support for all the home athletes, which I’m hoping will inspire us to some great racing and results next month," Hering said.

The PTO U.S. Open will take place in conjunction with USA Triathlon Nationals, which combines the longstanding Olympic & Sprint National Championships and Youth & Junior Nationals to create the biggest weekend of triathlon racing in the United States, with more than 7,000 participants and 20,000 spectators expected to attend.  

The packed weekend of racing takes place Aug. 4-6 in Milwaukee, with the women's PTO U.S. Open taking place Aug. 5 and the men's PTO U.S. Open on Aug. 4.

The star-studded pro women's field features six of the top 10 PTO Ranked athletes, led by PTO World #1 Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) and #5 Paula Findlay (CAN), #6 Taylor Knibb (USA), #7 Chelsea Sodaro (USA), #8 Laura Philipp (GBR), and #10 Holly Lawrence (GBR).  

Knibb leads the strong contingent of eight U.S. elite athletes – including Sodaro, Skye Moench, Jocelyn McCauley, Olympian Sarah True, Hering, Danielle Lewis and Haley Chura — who will all be looking for a maiden PTO Tour victory on home soil.

In total, the line up for the second PTO Tour race of the season includes 17 of the top 30 women from PTO World Rankings and covers nine different countries. 

The PTO US Open women’s confirmed automatic qualifiers start list can be found here and includes:

1. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 
2. Paula Findlay (CAN) 
3. Taylor Knibb (USA) 
4. Chelsea Sodaro (USA) 
5. Laura Philipp (GER) 
6. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 
7. Tamara Jewett (CAN) 
8. Kat Matthews (GBR) 
9. Skye Moench (USA) 
10. India Lee (GBR) 
11. Jocelyn McCauley (USA) 
12. Marjolaine Pierré (FRA) 
13. Sarah True (USA) 
14. Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) 
15. Jackie Hering (USA) 
16. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 
17. Danielle Lewis (USA) 
18. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) 
19. Jeanni Metzler (SA) 
20. Anne Reischmann (GER) 
21. Lucy Byram (GBR) 
22. Rach McBride (CAN) 
23. Haley Chura (USA) 
24. Ruth Astle (GBR) 

*Auto qualifiers based on 29 May rankings (ranked #1-10) and 26 June rankings (ranked #11-26). 

HOW TO WATCH

Both the women’s and men’s 100km races in Milwaukee will take place on a specially designed course, which is adjacent to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Henry Maier Festival Park and Discovery World along the shore of Lake Michigan. For further course details, please visit: https://protriathletes.org/events/pto-tour/us-open/pro/

The women’s race takes place on Saturday starting at 5:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live around the world to 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO Tour’s partnerships with Warner Bros. Discovery. It will live on Eurosport 1 from 2300 CET as well as featured on a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters including CNBC in the US, DAZN, beIN Sports and SPOTV across Asia.

The prize fund for the PTO Opens in 2023 is $600,000 USD per event – with $100,000 for the winner, $50,000 for second and $35,000 for third – making each event the most lucrative in the sport over this distance. 

MEN'S START LIST

The 2023 PTO U.S. Open men’s start list will be announced by PTO tomorrow (Wednesday, July 12).

The four wildcards for each of the races will be announced on Thursday (13 July).

USA Triathlon Nationals