World Triathlon is upping its level of prize money for the Championship Series Rankings to $750,000 in 2021 and $1m in 2022 ©Getty Images

World Triathlon has allocated $750,000 (£540,000/€631,500) in prize money for the 2021 Championship Series Rankings, and will increase it to a landmark $1 million (£719,300/€842,000) for 2022.

The 2021 prize money will be distributed after the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Finals in Edmonton.

World Triathlon was able to restart the Olympic Qualification Period in May after suspensions enforced by the pandemic, and has successfully hosted several events, in a 2021 season that has nevertheless been shorter than usual.

The events counting for this year’s Championship Series Rankings are the World Triathlon Championships Yokohama, World Triathlon Championships Leeds, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, World Triathlon Championships Montreal - all of which carry 1000 points for the winner - and the World Triathlon Championship Finals Edmonton, which will carry 1250 points for the winner.

World Triathlon is upping its level of prize money for the Championship Series Rankings to $750,000 in 2021 and $1m in 2022 ©Getty Images
World Triathlon is upping its level of prize money for the Championship Series Rankings to $750,000 in 2021 and $1m in 2022 ©Getty Images

The athletes’ final points totals will be the sum of the points earned from a maximum of three events out of the possible four and the Finals in Edmonton.

The points will be decreased by 7.5 per cent for every position.

The World Triathlon Championship Series season starts immediately after the previous season’s World Triathlon Championship Finals are concluded and finish with the next World Triathlon Championship Finals.

As such, points won at the World Triathlon Championship Series events due to take place after Edmonton - at Hamburg, Bermuda and Abu Dhabi - will all count for the 2022 season.

World Triathlon’s Executive Board has also urged the revision of the conditions with all event organisers to try to reduce costs for athletes that have increased with the impact of hosting events under bubble conditions due to COVID-19.