The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) is an organisation that represents non-drafting professional triathletes. Its mission is to professionalise and promote the sport of triathlon. The PTO is a hybrid of a not-for-profit organisation and commercial endeavour. The commercial enterprises of the PTO – including PTO events – are operated under a commercial entity, with the triathletes of PTO retaining 50% ownership and PTO investors retaining 50% ownership.[1]
In 2023 the PTO signed an agreement with the governing body of the sport, World Triathlon, under which PTO will organise a World Championship Tour of Long Distance Triathlon, a series which World Triathlon will, from 2024, recognise as its 'official' world championship for non-drafting long distance triathlon, mirroring its own Olympic-distance World Triathlon Championship Series. The relationship has been described as analogous with that between the FIA and Formula One.[2]