ProTriStats methodology
Rankings
Rankings should be useful without pretending to be more official than they are. ProTriStats separates official imported rankings from derived fan-analysis rankings.
- Official rankings and ProTriStats rankings live in separate tabs and use different labels.
- Every ranking needs a date, source or methodology note, eligible race count and completeness state.
- Derived rankings should explain "why ranked here" in terms of recent results, points, split ranks or consistency.
- Incomplete official snapshots should show a warning or stay hidden until they pass a completeness threshold.
Official rankings
Official rankings include PTO World, T100, IRONMAN Pro Series, World Triathlon and other organizer-published standings when imported. These should preserve the source position, points, ranking date and source URL.
If ProTriStats has only a partial snapshot, the UI should say so clearly. A partial official ranking presented as complete is worse than no ranking table.
ProTriStats rankings
Derived rankings are fan-analysis tools. The useful set includes current form, season performance, 70.3, full-distance, swim, bike, run and consistency rankings.
A derived ranking should be explainable from visible evidence: recent eligible races, best points performances, split ranks, finish positions, DNFs and field strength where available.
Completeness and eligibility
Eligibility should be strict enough to prevent one-off outliers from dominating but simple enough for a casual fan to understand. For example, a form ranking can require a minimum number of recent finished starts.
When an athlete is missing because they lack eligible results, the page should make that reason discoverable instead of implying they are ranked poorly.
- - Derived discipline rankings depend on valid split data; races without splits should not be guessed.
- - Different distances and course types make raw time comparisons risky.
- - A high consistency score can favor athletes who race often unless eligibility and race strength are handled carefully.
- - Keep official and derived rankings visually and semantically separate.
- - Show methodology snippets beside ranking tables rather than burying them on this page only.
- - Expose enough row-level evidence for users to sanity-check surprising rankings.