A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς, 'three', and ἆθλος, 'competition'.
World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other nonstandard variations. It is recognised as the international federation for the sport of triathlon and its derivatives by the International Olympic Committee, and it organises Olympic triathlon events on behalf of the IOC.
Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include Gaelic games, association football, horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, motorsport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After Partition of Ireland in 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. For this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities. This is in contrast to the majority of other states that participate in international sports which field a single national team to represent the entire polity.
The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom, but also incorporate representatives from eight of the eleven inhabited British Overseas Territories, and the three Crown Dependencies, who do not have their own separate Olympics teams.
Aquatics GB is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain. Aquatics GB is a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland, and Wales. These three are collectively known as the Home Country National Governing Bodies.
Spencer Smith is a British triathlete who won ITU Triathlon World Championships in 1993 and 1994.
Non Rhiannydd Stanford is a British former professional triathlete, representing Great Britain and Wales at international level. Stanford was the ITU World Champion in 2013, part of the Great Britain world champion mixed relay team in 2012 and represented Team GB at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she finished fourth behind teammate and housemate Vicky Holland. Hindered thereafter by recurrent injuries, she struggled to repeat the dominant form of her early years. In her final year of competition, 2022, however she found an exceptional final flourish of form; she anchored Wales to silver in the team event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, her first Commonwealth medal and her first major championship medal since 2015 World Triathlon mixed relay bronze. One week later, in her final major Olympic distance triathlon race, Stanford won her first and only European championship.
The World Triathlon Championship Series is World Triathlon's annual series of triathlon events used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. There are multiple rounds of competitions culminating in a Grand Final race. Athletes compete head-to-head for points in these races that will determine the overall World Triathlon champion. The elite championship races are held, with one exception, over two distances, the standard or 'Olympic' distance and the sprint distance. The ITU world champion between 1989 and 2008 had been decided in a single annual championship race.
Melissa Reid is a visually impaired British paratriathlete who competes in the PTVI classification. She is a Paralympic bronze medallist and a former World and European Champion. She is based in Falmouth in Cornwall.
Les McDonald, was the founding President of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) from 1989-2008, and was made an Honorary President for the organization until his death in 2017. He is largely credited with getting the sport of triathlon into the Olympic Games, with the inaugural race taking place at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. He is a member of the Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame (2001), Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (2007), the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2009), and the ITU Hall of Fame (2014). He was awarded the Olympic Order in 2010, in Vancouver, by the International Olympic Committee. He was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013 by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, the Governor General of Canada.
María de la Soledad Casado Estupiñán is a Spanish sports administrator and triathlete. She has been President of the International Triathlon Union since 2008, and as of 2017, she is the only female Spanish member of the International Olympic Committee. Marisol is the only woman to preside over an International Summer Sport Federation and one of (only) two in the entire Olympic program, the other being Kate Caithness of curling.
Jessica Learmonth is a British triathlete. Learmonth is a European, Commonwealth, Olympic and World Triathlon Series medal winner based in Leeds, England where she trains at the Leeds Triathlon Centre. She won the European Triathlon Championship in 2017 and took silver in 2018. She competed in the women's event and the mixed relay at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning silver medals in both disciplines. Learmonth won silver in the 2019 World Triathlon Series.
Georgia Taylor-Brown is an English professional triathlete. Having won bronze in the 2018 and 2019 World Triathlon Series, Taylor Brown won the one-off sprint triathlon race in Hamburg that constituted the 2020 World Triathlon Championship, becoming the fifth British woman to become world champion.
Joseph Townsend is a British paratriathlete who competes in the PTWC classification. Townsend has won European and world medals as well as becoming Commonwealth Champion in 2018. He represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where he finished sixth. Townsend has won the GBR Paratriathlon National Championships for four consecutive years- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. He lost both legs whilst serving in Afghanistan, after stepping on an IED in 2008. Joe Townsend is based in Eastbourne, England, where he was born.
Sophie Coldwell is a British triathlete. She competed in the women's event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. and has achieved several medals in International Triathlon Union (ITU) and European Triathlon Union (ETU) Championships. Sophie Coldwell is based in Loughborough, England. On the 26th June 2022, she won her 1st major medal when helping Team GB to Silver in the mixed team relay. She finished in third place in the 2022 Super League Triathlon Championship Series.
George Peasgood is a British paratriathlete who competes in the PTS5 classification. He represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where he finished seventh. Peasgood has won the GBR Paratriathlon National Championships four times- 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019. George Peasgood is based in Loughborough, England where he trains at the Loughborough Performance Centre. He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex.
Thomas Bishop is a British triathlete. He has represented England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and finished in 7th place in the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Series overall standings. Originally from Derby, Bishop graduated from the University of Leeds and is now based in the city, training at the Leeds Triathlon Centre. He was part of the British mixed relay team that won gold at the 2016 Lisbon ETU European Championships and has achieved a number of podiums on both the international and European triathlon circuits, including silver at the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi 2017.
Triathlon England is the national governing body and membership association for triathlon, duathlon and other multisports in England. It is a member of the British Triathlon Federation, the other members being Triathlon Scotland and Welsh Triathlon.
