Landmarks like the Merlion and the Singapore Flyer will be among the sights that world-class athletes and amateurs will take in during the inaugural Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) Asian Open at the Marina Bay on Aug 19 and 20.

The PTO on Thursday announced a multi-year partnership – understood to be for an initial three years – with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Sport Singapore to expand its tour series into the continent.

In 2022, it staged the Canadian Open and US Open, as well as the international Collins Cup – triathlon’s answer to golf’s Ryder Cup and tennis’ Laver or Davis Cup – as part of its PTO tour series.

PTO chief executive officer Sam Renouf said: “When we were planning the first PTO Asian Open, the opportunity to stage the event in Singapore and seeing the world’s best triathletes race around the iconic Marina Bay was something that made sense on many levels.

“It is important that the PTO Tour goes to different continents, different kinds of courses and different climates – that will enable us to see who really is the greatest endurance athlete on the planet.

“Singapore will be a great destination as well as a great race venue.”

The event will be broadcast to over 170 territories around the world, with the PTO Tour counting Warner Bros Discovery among its broadcast partners.

It will feature a women’s and men’s 100km race comprising a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run, which Renouf said allows the best athletes in the short and long triathlon formats to “meet in the middle” to compete.

The Olympic format consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run, while the Ironman is raced across 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run.

He added: “We looked at that... and created a new distance, which is the ‘100’... it takes about three hours or three hours and 15 minutes for the best athletes to do that.”

Spectators at the Marina Bay can expect to see some of the world’s best triathletes.

At the 2022 Canadian Open, Ironman World Championship winner Gustav Iden of Norway pipped compatriot and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt to the men’s title.

In the women’s category, Australian athlete Ashleigh Gentle took gold ahead of Canadian Paula Findlay and American Chelsea Sodaro, the 2022 Ironman world champion.

In addition to the professional races, the competition will have amateur and even masters athletes competing over the same 100km course in the Marina Bay financial district, with the organisers to announce more information in February.

There will also be health and wellness activities like a fun run, which will have “a low ticket price”, he added.

Gentle, 31, the standout women’s performer in PTO’s 2022 races, said her experience was “very exciting” and she looked forward to racing in Singapore.

A former elite athlete, Renouf, 38, is familiar with Singapore having previously worked here with event solutions company Active Network from 2011 to 2017. He said the location was ideal given the Republic’s status as a “tourism icon”, from logistics and ease for athletes to travel to, as well as its “dynamism”.

The Asian Open is part of a new slate of events for 2023 that STB announced on Tuesday in a bid to ramp up post-pandemic recovery in the sector.

STB’s executive director for sports & wellness Ong Ling Lee said: “This adds buzz to our city and strengthens Singapore’s position as a leading destination for sports in the region.

“As we look forward to welcoming the world’s top triathletes this August, we hope locals and international visitors will also enjoy the mass participation opportunities and explore what Singapore has to offer beyond the event.”

The PTO was formed in 2016 before attracting major investment in 2020 from billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz, which was the catalyst for staging events around the world.

Describing the athlete-owned PTO as being similar to what the ATP and WTA are to tennis, and the PGA and LPGA are to golf, Renouf said: “They were formed by groups of athletes who wanted to make their sport better. And that’s exactly what happened with the PTO.

“The professional athletes had seen the rise of the sport but the professional sports growth hadn’t necessarily tracked the participation growth globally.”

Renouf believes the sky is the limit for the PTO and triathlon, highlighting that it is a young sport with the right people in place. As an example, Chris Kermode, the former managing director for the ATP’s season-ending World Tour Finals, was appointed PTO’s executive chairman in October 2022.

“That’s an indication of our ambition,” said Renouf.

“I see no reason why in 20, 30 or 40 years, triathlon cannot be considered at the same level as tennis and golf from a professional level. That’s obviously a big, lofty goal but those sports had a 100-year head start to us.”