In addition to regulating and setting the rules of the sport, World Triathlon organises the top level international race series the World Triathlon Championship Series and the ITU Triathlon World Cup. World Triathlon also has a long-distance race circuit with official world championships, while in 2024 it will begin to sanction and recognise a World Championship Tour of Long-Distance Triathlon organised by the Professional Triathletes Organisation.[2]. World Triathlon does not have an official relationship with the other three major commercial triathlon circuits, Ironman Triathlon, XTERRA Triathlon or Super League Triathlon.
Additionally, World Triathlon regulated, sanctions and organizes official sprint distance and team relay triathlon championships, as wel as Aquathlon (run-swim-run), Duathlon (run-bike-run) and Winter triathlon championships.
Versions of swim bike run multi-sports existed in the 1920s, but it wasn't until the term triathlon was coined in 1974 in San Diego that triathlon exploded in popularity. This rapid development drew the attention of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which initiated a discussion in 1988 to include it in the Olympic Games program. The then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch held a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, with the intention of making triathlon an Olympic sport as soon as possible. At that meeting Canadian Les McDonald was selected as President to a working committee for triathlon, while Sweden's Sture Jonasson was elected as Secretary.[3]
World Triathlon was founded as the International Triathlon Union (ITU) one year later, on April 1, 1989, at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France. A total of 30 National Federations attended the initial Congress and preparations were made for the sport's first World Championships to be held in Avignon in August 1989. At this meeting the Olympic distance (later renamed to standard) was set at a 1.5-km swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run the distances were chosen as they were already present at the Olympics for each discipline individually. More than 800 athletes representing 40 countries competed in the first World Championships, and Canada's Les McDonald was elected as ITU's first president in 1989.
ITU began the World Cup series in 1991, staging 11 races in eight countries. Triathlon was officially added to the Olympic Programme by the IOC at its Congress in Paris in 1994. Triathlon made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Since its inception World Triathlon has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada until January 1, 2014 when it moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the IOC and many international sporting bodies.
Spain's Marisol Casado was elected as World Triathlon's second president in November 2008. She became an IOC member in February 2010 at the 122nd IOC Session in World Triathlon's hometown of Vancouver. She was re-elected for a new four-year term in October 2012. The Canadian Loreen Barnett maintains its general secretary 3, with Sarah Springman named 1st vice-president and honorary member of the World Federation, hence in 2012 it was the only worldwide federation of an Olympic sport with an all-female management. In December 2016, Casado was re-elected for a third term as president of the International Federation at the 29th Congress held in Madrid 6.
In 2009 the International Triathlon Federation reorganised its top level competitions changing the World championship to the World Triathlon Series, an eight-stage competition circuit in eight countries, and relegated the world cup down to a second tier series below the world series with less prize money and world ranking points. It also organizes a series of world competitions at different distances from chained sports derived from the triathlon it manages, such as duathlon, aquathlon, cross-triathlon, winter triathlon and paratriathlon.
In June 2017, following the renewal of the federal application, the International Olympic Committee included a third triathlon event on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the mixed team relay. With the men's and women's short-distance triathlon events, three triathlon events offer Olympic titles to triathletes. By joining other sports who practice these forms of mixed events, this approach within the scope of the promotion of equality policies between men and women triathletes supported by the international federation.
In September 2017, World Triathlon announced the death of its founding and honorary President, Les McDonald, at the age of 84. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2013 for service to the nation and inducted into its "Hall of Fame" in 2014 for his work for triathlon.
In October 2020, the ITU officially adopted the name World Triathlon.
World Triathlon is structured into 5 continental regions, through which 172 national federations (the governing body of triathlon in each country) are affiliated to World Triathlon.[4] Each region offers a Continental Championship and Continental Cup Series.
Asia Triathlon representing 35 national federations[5]
Africa Triathlon representing 37 national federations[6]
Europe Triathlon representing 46 national federations[7]
Americas Triathlon representing 40 national federations[8]
Oceania Triathlon representing 14 national federations[9]
In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe Triathlon said that it strongly supported the decision of the International Olympic Committee and World Triathlon to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from organised European events, and to not organise international events in Russia or Belarus.[10]
Development
World Triathlon has an ongoing effort to develop the sport especially outside of Europe and English speaking countries. One method is through development grants such as the recent one to the African Triathlon Union, with most of the money to national federations allowing for support of organize events, as well as funding for athlete, coach and Technical Officials courses.[11] Another is athlete scholarships to be given to young athletes that have shown talent but who need more support than their developing National Federation can give, allowing them to perform at an international level, the end goal of these scholarships is the athletes performing for their county at the Olympic games.[12] One global development is the introduction of certifications for coaching and technical officials meaning that important events will be contested at the high level.[13]
Ranking system
World Triathlon publishes and maintains the World Rankings for the men's and women's competitions in both short and long course for triathlon and duathlon as well as aquathlon and winter triathlon races it also has a ranking for the national teams mixed relay.[14] Each ranking has a slightly different point system but all are calculated via a rolling calendar, by taking a set number of the highest scoring results from the previous 52 weeks and adding them to a set number of the highest scoring results from the 53 to 104 weeks previous. Each races maximum score is decided by the ITU's ranking criteria[15] and then the athlete who comes first will earn that many points with each following athlete earning 7.5% less point than the athlete before them.
Championships
In its founding year World Triathlon only ran the World triathlon championship, the following year it also began hosting the duathlon world championship. In 1991 the ITU started hosting a series of triathlon races as the triathlon World Cup. The distances chosen for the World championship and World Cup races were 1,500m swimming, 40km of bike and 10km of running, these parameters were chosen from existing distances in swimming, cycling and running disciplines in the Olympic Games. This triathlon distance has become known as the standard distance in the world of triathlon. In 1994 to have a long-distance championship similar to Ironman Triathlon events but hosted by the sports governing body the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships was founded and in 1997 parity was brought to duathlon with the Long Distance Duathlon World Championships. Also in 1997 the first Winter Triathlon World Championships was held giving the sport of winter triathlons its own world championship. Then in 1998 the Aquathlon World Championships were inaugurated, giving aquathlon its own world championship. In 2009 the Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships was held to organise an elite-level international relay. The most recently created tournament is the Cross Triathlon World Championships; similar to how long-distance world championships were introduced to mirror the well known Ironman events, it was created to allow the sports governing body to have a world championship instead of XTERRA Triathlon. Both Ironman and XTERRA also operate 'world championship' events.
The world championship events organised by World Triathlon include:
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).
Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. The International Triathlon Union governs the sport internationally.
An aquathlon is a multisport race consisting of continuous run and swim elements. Competitors complete a swim immediately followed by a run over various distances. Athletes compete for fastest overall course completion, including the time transitioning between the disciplines.
Alistair Edward Brownlee MBE is a British triathlete. He is the only male 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.
Irina Alekseyevna Abysova is a Russian open water swimmer and professional triathlete. In 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2010 she won the Russian Triathlon Championships and she took part in the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing and the 2012 Games in London. She is the winner of the 2013 ITU Aquathlon World Championship.
Nicky Samuels is a New Zealand professional triathlete who has won the 2013 XTERRA Triathlon World Championship and the 2012 ITU Aquathlon World Championships. She is also the 2012 New Zealand cycling road race national champion. She represented—alongside Andrea Hewitt—New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics in triathlon and came 13th.
Olga Erofeeva is a Russian professional triathlete, 2011 National Elite Duathlon Champion, and National Aquathlon Vice-Champion of 2011.
Ruth Nivon Machoud is a Mexican Swiss professional triathlete and since 2009 permanent member of the Swiss National Team.
Annamaria Mazzetti is an Italian professional triathlete and 2009 National Champion in three categories.
Elena Maria Petrini is an Italian professional triathlete, National Junior Aquathlon and National Junior Triathlon Champion, and Junior Aquathlon World Champion of 2010.
Sarah True is an American athlete who competes in triathlon. She represented the United States in triathlon in 2012, finishing in fourth place, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics. True is the winner of the 2007 ITU Aquathlon World Championships and finished in second place in the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Series.
Felicity Sheedy-Ryan is an Australian professional triathlete, Oceania Champion of the year 2008, gold medalist at the 2012 and 2017 Duathlon World Championships, and a member of the Australian World Championship Series Team 2011.
Charlotte McShane is a Scottish-born Australian professional triathlete and the 2013 U23 ITU World Triathlon Champion and the 2008 Xterra U20 World Champion.
Ognjen Stojanović is a Serbian triathlete.
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.
Triathlon Australia is the governing body responsible for the management of sports such as duathlon, aquathlon and triathlon within Australia.
This topic reveals a large number of triathlon events and their results for 2014.
The Powerman Zofingen is a duathlon event in Zofingen (Switzerland) within the Powerman Duathlon World Series. On September 3, 2017, the world championships in the long distance was held for the tenth time in Zofingen, canton Argovia. The official name is ITU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon World Championships.
Triathlon South Africa is the Sport governing body for the sport of triathlon in South Africa. It is responsible for the management of sports such as duathlon, aquathlon and triathlon within South Africa. It is affiliated to International Triathlon Union (ITU), and the African Triathlon Union.
Peter Ellis is a British Elite and Age Group duathlete from The New Forest, England. Competing at Elite level he is a four time Powerman Duathlon World Series race winner with wins in Gothenburg, Michigan and Hawaii, securing further podium finishes in Putrajaya, Panama City and Arizona. He finished the 2016 Powerman Duathlon World Series in 29th, 2017 in 7th, 2018 in 11th and 2019 in 2nd reaching a Powerman Duathlon World ranking of 2nd in June 2019 and World Triathlon long distance Duathlon ranking of 2nd in September 2019. Selected by British Triathlon to compete for the Great Britain Elite team at the ETU European Elite middle-distance duathlon Championships Copenhagen, St Wendel and Viborg, the ASTC Asian Elite middle-distance duathlon Championships Putrajaya, and the ITU World Elite long-distance duathlon championships Powerman Zofingen.
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