Sport | Triathlon |
---|---|
First season | 2009 |
Most recent champion(s) | Dorian Coninx (FRA) Beth Potter (GBR) |
Most titles | Javier Gómez (ESP) (5) |
Sponsor(s) | NTT |
Official website | wtcs.triathlon.org |
2024 World Triathlon Championship Series |
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 (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run) and the sprint distance (750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run). The ITU (the former name of World Triathlon) world champion between 1989 and 2008 had been decided in a single annual championship race.
Since 2018 a mixed relay series has been run in tandem, where national teams compete in mixed team relays for prize money and Olympic qualifying points. [1] From these races, one is denominated as the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships.
Since 2021 the leg holding the Mixed Relay Championships has also included the reinstated World Triathlon Sprint Championships under the combined branding of World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships. The stand-alone Sprint championship had previously been discontinued in 2011. Races in the sprint world championships are held over Super-sprint distances (300 m swim, 5 km bike, 2.5 km run) using a multi-race eliminator format which is unique to that leg.
The final leg of the series is marketed as the Grand Final, and has a greater points allocation, which must be included in the athletes final score ranking for the season along with the four best other results. In addition, the week of the Grand Final also sees age-grade World Championships in one-off races, including an under-23 title considered an elite event, as well as single-race para triathlon championship events.
With the establishment of the International Triathlon Union (ITU, now World Triathlon) in 1989 it was quickly established that the governing body should host a yearly world championship to establish the men's and women's world champion. With the creation and hosting of the first ITU Triathlon World Championship in 1989 the ITU had established itself and the sports premier event but the sport overall lacked cohesion with races of varying lengths and prize pools, which increased the difficulty for triathletes to train and plan for seasons ahead. So in 1991 the ITU created the ITU Triathlon World Cup a year long series of races all hosted by the ITU with regular distances and prize money. With a world championship and a regular season established the ITU's attention moved onto other issues including earning the sport a place at the Olympics.
Then in 2008 the day after the 2008 men's Olympic triathlon race the ITU announced starting next year it would be replacing the single race world championship with a six-race World Championship points super series culminating in a Grand Final, it was to be called the World Championship Series (WCS). [2] The ITU believed it would help grow the sport and increase the reach to the level of major sports whilst gaining a bigger TV audience. [3] Most athletes and professional coaches were happy at the announcement believing it would help the sport become more popular and increase professionalism and pay for the top level athletes. However, there were major monetary concerns one week after the announcement as the ITUs main sponsor BG had pulled out of its nine-year sponsorship deal after only two years. [4] [5]
By its start in 2009 the series had gained a title sponsor in Dextro Energy [6] [7] [8] in a $2 million deal allowing for each World Championship event to feature a $150,000 prize purse and for the Grand final to have $250,000, this also meant that $700,000 was available at the end of the series. This influx of cash meant that athletes would be to earn almost triple what they had previously helping to draw more into the sport. In 2011 the sprint distance world championship was incorporated into the series giving the same points and prize money as any other event, from this point on sprint distance events would make up a part of the series. [9] In 2012 Dextro Energy ended their title sponsorship in tandem with the series rebranding itself as the World Triathlon Series. [10] Then in 2013 the prize pool saw an increase to $2.25 million certifying the world triathlon series as the richest series in triathlon. [10] In 2018 with the growing popularity of the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships and the disciplines' addition to the Olympic program [11] it was decided that at three of the events on the 2018 calendar a mixed relay event would be held alongside the men's and women's competition; these three events would grant points towards Olympic qualification and constitute the new mixed relay series. [1]
Only two triathletes succeeded in winning World Championships under both formats, Javier Gomez of Spain, and Helen Jenkins (née Tucker) of Great Britain and Wales. In 2020, in response to multiple race cancellations as a result of COVID-19 the Championship was once more decided on the basis of a single Championship race, won by Vincent Luis of France and Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain and England. As Luis had already won a world title in 2019 under the now established season-long format, he in effect became only the third triathlete to win World Championships in both the single race and season-long formats.[ citation needed ]
During the 2023 events, at least 57 participants fell ill after swimming off Roker Beach in Sunderland. An Environment Agency sample taken three days before the event indicated 3,900 E. coli colonies per 100ml, over 39 times higher than readings taken the previous month, but the results were not published until after the competition. Northumbrian Water reported that no discharges that would have affected water quality off Roker Beach were recorded since October 2021. [12]
Currently there are three different distance disciplines:
In all instances the swim will be a mass start in open-water and the cycling will be draft-legal. There is an allowed leniency of 10% on each segment of courses route for the standard and sprint distances, with more discretion being allowed for the mixed relay. The standard distance was also known as the Olympic distance as it was the only distance competed for in the Olympics, however the World Triathlon has tried to enforce the use of the name standard distance saving the name Olympic on for official Olympic events.[ citation needed ]
[13] † The athlete won his first title as World Champion under the old world championship system.
‡ The championship was restricted to a single race event due to COVID 19.
[13] † The athlete won the title of World Champion under the old world championship system.
‡ The championship was restricted to a single race event due to COVID 19.
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Great Britain | 8 | 7 | 4 | 19 |
2 | Spain | 7 | 6 | 4 | 17 |
3 | France | 4 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
4 | Bermuda | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
5 | United States | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
6 | Australia | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
7 | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
8 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
9 | New Zealand | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
10 | Germany | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
11 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Portugal | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
14 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Russia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (15 entries) | 30 | 30 | 30 | 90 |
The World Triathlon Series has visited 27 cities in 19 countries since its founding in 2009.
Country | City | Year | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||
Australia | Gold Coast | GF | • | • | • | GF | |||||||||||||||
Sydney | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||
Austria | Kitzbühel | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
Bermuda | Bermuda | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||
Canada | Edmonton | GF | • | • | • | • | MR | • | MR | GF | |||||||||||
Montreal | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
China | Beijing | GF | |||||||||||||||||||
Germany | Hamburg | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | MR | • | MR | • | • | • | • | |||
Great Britain | Leeds | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
London | • | • | • | GF | • | • | |||||||||||||||
Nottingham | MR | MR | |||||||||||||||||||
Sunderland | • | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hungary | Budapest | GF | |||||||||||||||||||
Italy | Cagliari | • | • | ||||||||||||||||||
Japan | Tokyo | MR | |||||||||||||||||||
Yokohama | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
Mexico | Cozumel | GF | |||||||||||||||||||
Netherlands | Rotterdam | GF | |||||||||||||||||||
New Zealand | Auckland | GF | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||||
South Africa | Cape Town | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||
South Korea | Seoul | • | |||||||||||||||||||
Tongyeong | • | ||||||||||||||||||||
Spain | Madrid | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
Pontevedra | GF | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sweden | Stockholm | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
Switzerland | Lausanne | • | GF | ||||||||||||||||||
United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | • | • | • | • | • | MR | • | GF | • | |||||||||||
United States | Chicago | • | GF | ||||||||||||||||||
San Diego | • | • | |||||||||||||||||||
Washington, D.C. | • |
Where GF = Grand Final, MR = Mixed Relay event
The final race of each season is known as the grand final and has extra points, prize money and prestige associated with it, when a city bids to host the grand final it also bids to host many World Triathlon events such as the amateur Age-group world championships and the Paratriathlon world championship.
Year | Date | Location |
---|---|---|
2009 | 9–13 September | Gold Coast, Australia |
2010 | 8–12 September | Budapest, Hungary |
2011 | 10–11 September | Beijing, China |
2012 | 20–21 October | Auckland, New Zealand |
2013 | 14–15 September | London, Great Britain |
2014 | 1 September | Edmonton, Canada |
2015 | 17 September | Chicago, United States |
2016 | 11-18 September | Cozumel, Mexico |
2017 | 14-17 September | Rotterdam, Netherlands [14] |
2018 | 12–16 September | Gold Coast, Australia |
2019 | August 30–1 September | Lausanne, Switzerland |
2020 | Cancelled* | Edmonton, Canada |
2021 | 20-22 August | Edmonton, Canada |
2022 | 22-26 November | Abu Dhabi, UAE |
2023 | 23-24 September | Pontevedra, Spain |
2024 | 17-20 October | Torremolinos, Spain |
*2020 Series was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Champion was determined during a single sprint race event in Hamburg, Germany.
Founded | 1989 |
---|---|
Ceased | 2008 |
Replaced by | ITU World Triathlon Series |
The world champion was formerly crowned in the ITU Triathlon World Championship, a single championship race that was held annually from 1989, the same year as the formation of the International Triathlon Union (ITU), to 2008.
Pos | National Team | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Australia | 17 | 15 | 13 |
2 | Great Britain | 9 | 3 | 3 |
3 | United States | 5 | 5 | 9 |
4 | New Zealand | 2 | 5 | 5 |
5 | Spain | 2 | 3 | |
6 | Canada | 1 | 4 | |
7 | Germany | 1 | 1 | 2 |
8 | Portugal | 1 | 1 | |
9 | France | 1 | 1 | |
Kazakhstan | 1 | 1 | ||
11 | Switzerland | 1 | 2 | |
12 | Belgium | 1 | ||
Denmark | 1 | |||
14 | Brazil | 1 | ||
Netherlands | 1 |
Year | Date | Location |
---|---|---|
1989 | 6 August | Avignon, France |
1990 | 15 September | Orlando, United States |
1991 | 13 October | Queensland, Australia |
1992 | 12 September | Muskoka, Canada |
1993 | 22 August | Manchester, United Kingdom |
1994 | 27 November | Wellington, New Zealand |
1995 | 12 November | Cancún, Mexico |
1996 | 24 August | Cleveland, United States |
1997 | 16 November | Perth, Australia |
1998 | 30 August | Lausanne, Switzerland |
1999 | 12 September | Montreal, Canada |
2000 | 30 April | Perth, Australia |
2001 | 22 July | Edmonton, Canada |
2002 | 9–10 November | Cancún, Mexico |
2003 | 6–7 December | Queenstown, New Zealand |
2004 | 9 May | Madeira, Portugal |
2005 | 10–11 September | Gamagōri, Japan |
2006 | 2–3 September | Lausanne, Switzerland |
2007 | 30 August–2 September | Hamburg, Germany |
2008 | 5–8 June | Vancouver, Canada |
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 or treis (three) and ἆθλος or athlos (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.
Christopher John McCormack, also known as Macca, is an Australian triathlete. McCormack is a two-time winner of the Ironman World Championship, winning the titles in 2007 and 2010. He is also the winner of the 1997 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup Series, the 1997 Triathlon World Championships, the 2012 Long Distance World Championships. and inducted into the AusTriathlon Hall of Fame for 2023.
Triathlon had its Summer Olympics debut at the 2000 Games, in Sydney, when men's and women's individual events were first held, and has been contested since then. In 2021, at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics a mixed team relay event was held for the first time. The sport, and its Olympic events, are governed by the International Triathlon Union, known since 2019 as World Triathlon.
Alistair Edward Brownlee MBE is an English triathlete. He is the only athlete to hold two Olympic titles in the individual triathlon event, winning gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He is also a four-time World Champion in triathlon being Triathlon World Champion twice and World Team Champion twice, a four-time European Champion, and the 2014 Commonwealth champion. Brownlee is the only athlete, male or female, to have completed a grand slam of Olympic, World, continental and Commonwealth championships. Brownlee is also a one-time world champion in aquathlon. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest male Triathletes ever.
The 2009 ITU World Championship Series was a series of seven triathlon events leading to a Grand Final held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in September 2009. The series was organised under the auspices of the world governing body of triathlon – the International Triathlon Union (ITU) – and was sponsored by Dextro Energy. The 2009 World Championship Series (WCS) was the first year of a change in format replacing the single World Championship race of prior years. Additionally, points accumulated in 2009 ITU Triathlon World Cup events would contribute to an athlete's overall point total in the Championship Series.
Jonathan Callum Brownlee is an English professional duathlete and triathlete. He is a six-time World champion, and one-time Olympic champion in triathlon.
Rachel Klamer is a Dutch professional triathlete and member of the National team. She placed third at the Junior World Championships in 2009.
The World Triathlon Sprint Championships is a triathlon competition covering distances of 750 m swim, 20 km bicycle and 5 km run and is organised by the World Triathlon. The inaugural championships took place in 2010. In 2011 the championship was held as an event as part of the 2011 ITU World Championship Series. Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee was the male champion in both editions, while Swede Lisa Norden and Chilean Barbara Riveros Diaz won the first two women's championships. However, for every year after 2011 multiple sprint events were held as part of the World Triathlon Series with no delineation made between them, and so no title was awarded at sprint distances at the elite level.
The Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series 2011 was a series of six World Championship Triathlon events leading to a Grand Final held in Beijing, China in September 2011. The Series was organised under the auspices of the world governing body of triathlon, the International Triathlon Union (ITU), and was sponsored by Dextro Energy.
The 2011 ITU Triathlon World Cup was a series of triathlon races organised by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) for elite-level triathletes to be held during the 2011 season. For 2011, nine races were announced as part of the World Cup series. The ninth and final race in Auckland, New Zealand was added as a test race for the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final. Each race was held over a distance of 1500 m swim, 40 km cycle, 10 km run. Alongside a prize purse, points were awarded at each race contributing towards the overall 2011 ITU Triathlon World Championships point totals.
The 2011 ITU Sprint Distance Triathlon World Championships was a triathlon race organised by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) held in Lausanne, Switzerland on August 20. Along with the ITU Team Triathlon World Championships, being held the following day in Lausanne, points earned at the Sprint Distance Championship are incorporated into the 2011 World Championships Series rankings.
The 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series was a series of eight World Championship Triathlon events that led up to a Grand Final held in Auckland, New Zealand in October 2012. The Series was organised under the auspices of the world governing body of triathlon, the International Triathlon Union (ITU).
Richard Murray is a Dutch/South African triathlete.
The 2018 ITU World Triathlon Series was the 10th season of the World Triathlon Series, the top-level international series for triathlon, since its establishment in 2009. The season consisted of nine pairs of triathlon races for both a men's and women's competition, as well as three mixed relays, beginning on 2 March in Abu Dhabi, and concluding on 16 September with the grand final at the Gold Coast.
The 2019 ITU World Triathlon Series was the 11th season of the World Triathlon Series, the top level international series for triathlon, since its establishment in 2009. The season consisted of eight pairs of triathlon races for both a men's and woman's competition, beginning on 8 March in Abu Dhabi, and concluding on 1 September with the grand final at Lausanne, Switzerland. The season also contained five mixed relays as part of the Mixed Relay Series which offers national teams qualifying points for the mixed team relay event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Alexander Amos Yee is a British professional triathlete and distance runner. He won the silver medal in the Men's Triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the gold medal in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Saturday 31 July 2021. He is also the 2022 Commonwealth Games triathlon champion in both the men's and mixed team events. He is a double World Championship medalist over the World Triathlon Championship Series, with silver in 2022, and bronze in 2021
Bence Bicsák is a Hungarian professional triathlete. He is a member of the Hungarian 2020 Olympic Triathlon team. He competed in the men's individual event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Summer Games. He placed 7th out of 51 Olympians that started the race.
The 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series was the 13th season of the World Triathlon Championship Series, the top level international series for triathlon, since its establishment in 2009. The season consisted of four pairs of triathlon races for both a men's and women's competition, beginning on May 15 in Yokohama, and concluding on August 21 with the grand final in Edmonton. The series calendar also included the 2020 Summer Olympics individual races on July 26 and 27 and mixed relay event on July 31.
The 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series was the 14th season of the World Triathlon Championship Series, the top level international series for triathlon, since its establishment in 2009, and crowned the 34th official World Triathlon Champion for both men and women since the first was crowned in 1989.