ITU bumps WCS prize money by 15%

The International Triathlon Union announced today that its 2012 World Championship Series total prize pool will be increased by 15 percent from 2011 totals to $2.06 million. Overall there will be an increase from $1.8 million in 2011.

"Across the board we are seeing tremendous growth in our premier series – from spectators to participants to sponsors to broadcast partners and now with prize money for our elite athletes," said Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member.

The increase will be applied to eight World Championship Series events starting with Sydney, Australia and ending with the Grand Final in Auckland, New Zealand and will include the yearlong prize pool. The prize purse for the Grand Final in Auckland will be raised by $20,000 to $270,000, the prize purses for the seven WCS series events will be raised by $20,000 to $170,000 and the year-end bonus pool will be raised by $100,000 to $600,000.

While the men’s and women’s winner’s shares of the WCS bonus pool will be raised by $5,000 to $60,000, winner’s awards for the Grand Final will remain at $30,000, and winners’ shares for the seven series events will be raised by $2,000 to $20,000, a significant percentage of the overall increase will come from deepening the payouts in all three categories of purses.

The year-end bonus pool will pay the top 30 athletes – up from 20 last year; the Grand Final will pay the top 20 finishers – up from 15 last year; and the seven series events will pay the top 20 finishers, up from 20 last year.

The increases payouts in bonus pool, Grand Final and WCS series events will apply from top to bottom.

For example, second place in the bonus pool will increase from $42,000 to $45,000, 10th place will increase from $7,000 to $8,000, and 20th place will increase from $2,000 to $3,000. The 21st through 30th places in the bonus pool, which last year received nothing, will pay out on a graduated scale from $2,500 to $2,000.

The Grand Final payouts to second through 4th place will remain at $22,000, $16,000 and $12,000, but the 5th place award will increase from $9,300 to $9,800, 10th place will increase from $3,200 to $3,500, and so forth. WCS series events will increase the runner-up prize from $13,000 to $14,000, 10th place from $2,100 to $2,200, 15th from $1,000 to $1,100 and 16th through 20th will now receive $1,000.

In addition to the increase in prize money, The International Triathlon Union has rebranded the series, which is now called the ITU World Triathlon Series. “We will not have a single brand sponsor this year,” said ITU media spokesperson Paula Kim. “Instead each race in the series will sign its own title sponsor.” Dextro Energy, which last year was the title sponsor for the entire series, will serve in that capacity for the Sydney and Hamburg events.