Aaron Royle was first out of the water in 26:38, bringing along a string of strong swimmers including Sam Laidlow, Ben Kanute and Daniel Baekkegard. Meanwhile, Magnus Ditlev was 1:10 back in 29th place with Lionel Sanders (36th) 2:37 back, just ahead of Sam Long.
Kanute was first onto the 80km bike course and was clearly keen to push the pace with Laidlow and Royle the first to react. Meanwhile Sanders and Long quickly set about powering through the field.
By the end of lap one, Sam Laidlow was leading the front pack, a long train of 13 athletes including Kanute, Florian Angert, Baekkegard and Kyle Smith. During lap two, Laidlow put in a dig to create an advantage, Angert the only athlete to respond. The pair had a 20-second lead by the lap’s conclusion, while Sam Long was now 1:56 back.
With 40km behind them, Laidlow and Angert had a 1:17 lead on the rest. Long, now ahead of Ditlev and Sanders, was 1:37 from the lead. Just 10km later, Long had bridged to the chase pack, going right to the front and into third place.
Up front, Angert surged ahead of Laidlow and with 20km to go, had a 30-second lead to the Frenchman and 1:03 to Long. In the final lap, with 8.2km to go, Long passed Laidlow too, Ditlev going with the American along with Collin Chartier, 1:05 behind Angert.
As Angert entered T2, the German had a lead of 59 seconds, which was cut to 41 by a fast transition from Long with Ditlev 57 seconds down, closely followed by Chartier and Laidlow.
Within the first lap, Long had taken pole position and Ditlev soon followed. However, it was Chartier who was running fastest, the American making it into a podium position around 6km in. While Long was holding Ditlev at around 15 seconds, nothing could defuse Chartier’s inexorable pace. Patiently chipping away at the seconds, the rising USA star caught the Dane at around 10.5km, showing no sign of wilting in the savage Texan heat.
At 12.5km, Chartier was on Long’s shoulder and while the latter tried to hold onto his countryman as he was passed, the elastic soon extended and snapped, putting Chartier on track for the biggest win of his career.
While the top of the podium looked set, Ditlev was now advancing on Long. The tall Dane stalked the American with his distinctive loping running style and managed to overhaul the Long in the last 1500m to break the US one-two.
Chartier stormed to the finish to take the victory in 3:17:16 and claim the $100,000 winners’ cheque and become crowned the first ever PTO US Open Champion. Ditlev was second in 3:17:58, taking home $70,000 while Long stayed strong for third in 3:18:08 and a $50,000 payday – both men careening over the line to collapse on the ground.
Laidlow equalled his finish at the PTO Canadian Open, coming fourth again to take away $40,000, while Florian Angert, so instrumental in the race dynamics, rounded out the top five to claim $35,000.
REMAINING PLACES AND PRIZE MONEY
6th – Kristian Hogenhaug – $30,000
7th – Aaron Royle – $25,000
8th – Pieter Heemeryck – $20,000
9th – Mika Noodt – $18,000
10th – Pablo Dapena Gonzalez – $16,000
11th – Daniel Baekkegard – $14,000
12th – Jason West – $13,000
13th – Chris Leiferman – $12,000
14th – Thor Bendix Madsen – $11,000
15th – Bradley Weiss – $10,000
16th – Sebastian Kienle – $9,000
17th – Jackson Laundry – $8,000
18th – Josh Amberger – $7,000
19th – Clement Mignon – $6,000
20th – Rudy Von Berg – $5,000
All other athletes – $2,000