Sam Renouf: «We will have Olympic triathletes in Ibiza again»

—After last year's success with the presence of three Olympic champions such as Frodeno, Blummenfelt and Brownlee, can we expect such a powerful participation this year?

-Yes absolutely. This year is the T100 Triathlon World Tour, where the 20 best in the world will compete, so we will have Olympic and world athletes in Ibiza.

—Can the fact that it is an Olympic year influence the triathletes who come to the island?

—Not for the Ibiza competition because it is held much later than the Games and, furthermore, we are waiting for powerful athletes who will be in Paris and who can compete on the island. For other events throughout the year, it has affected more, but not for Ibiza.

—Is there any big star that we can already meet or is it still early?

—We can anticipate Lucy Charles Barclay, from England; double Olympic winner Alistair Brownlee; the Spanish Javier Gómez Noyam, several times world champion; as well as the current number one, which is the Australian, Ashleigh Gentle. So we can say that we already have a good list of stars. Furthermore, many of those who came to Ibiza last year really enjoyed the competition and will return.

—How long are they going to be on the island?

—Many of the professionals are going to come for a week to get used to the place, train for the competition and also enjoy Ibiza. The professional competition will take place on Saturday. The next day the amateurs will compete in the 100k, which is based on two kilometers of swimming, eighty kilometers of cycling and 18 kilometers of running. Many people come and last year the total economic impact was 12 million. We're hoping for something similar for this one.

—The PTO, with 100 kilometers, is closer to the Long Distance modality than to the Olympic distance. Why have you opted for this format? They say they are redefining triathlon.

—We wanted to create a new competition for triathletes, since some are doing many kilometers in marathons, so we wanted to create new series and it is a competition that is held all over the world, with one stage after another, similar to Formula 1 or MotoGP. It's a World Championship series.

—How has the evolution of this circuit been in recent years?

—It has been very good and it is a good year for us. We have grown. We went to Miami, Singapore and San Francisco. This month we have the competition in London and after a break we will come to Ibiza in September. Afterwards, we go to Las Vegas and, finally, to Dubai. They are some of the most famous locations in the world and we chose them because we want beautiful places to hold competitions and where people want to go.

—Is triathlon on the rise? The economic bet is being powerful.

-Yeah. The economic impact is very powerful with the 12 million we had last year. This year the competitions will be broadcast on television around the world. In the last edition there were at least six million live viewers and we expect the same, since the broadcast is translated into 22 languages ​​on different global channels specialized in sports.

—Apart from the professionals. It is also planned that a popular crossing, a test for children, a night race, the Spanish Middle Distance Cup and the age groups of the PTO itself will be held that weekend.

—They are going to be very full and busy days. It's like a music festival, but for sports. Registration is now available on our website, as well as all the information, and we also want the people of the island to be part of the event. In addition, we want to promote a healthy lifestyle for people with these competitions.

—What will the distribution for the tests be like?

—They are going to be separated. On Friday we have the swimming tests and the aquathlon; On Saturday the professional competitions and some of those for children will be held, and on Sunday morning the competitions by age groups will be held.

—Registration for age groups is now open. How is the reception?

—It's going very well. We are very happy with how the reception is being and it is going to be a competition that is going to have a 'sold out'. People from all over the world are registering and on Saturday there will be the Spanish Cup, so we have many registered.

—To conclude, what does Ibiza have? Do you plan to have a fixed headquarters or is it logical to look for other locations in Europe? This year, in Europe there is also a test in London.

—We chose Ibiza because we wanted beautiful places to hold the competition, in addition to it being a well-known place. Triathlon is a competition that is not held in a stadium, but outdoors, so we wanted a setting like the one on the island. Regarding whether it will be a fixed venue or not, a lot of cities want us to go to celebrate the triathlon there, but personally we think that Ibiza is an ideal place for the competition, plus there is triathlon history here, so we hope to be able to stay for a long time. But we must keep the following in mind: the island has to love us for us to stay.