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Sports

Triathlon

Swim, bike and run, one after the other on one clock: in an elite race the first athlete across the finish line wins, so a triathlon is easy to follow once you know what happens between the three.

A triathlon evening

One path through the page, in order. Nothing is saved: it is only the order of this page's parts.

  1. Get it: how it works, in about 2 minutes.
  2. A final to watch: 2026 CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS PONTEVEDRA OPENING CEREMONY, on World Triathlon's own channel, played in YouTube's player on its page.
  3. The videogames: others about triathlon.

Get it

Answered from this page's own claims, words and competitions, word for word, with their sources. Nothing about your question is kept.

New to triathlon about 2 minutes

What you are watching

  • A triathlon is one continuous race in three parts, always in the same order: a swim, a bike ride, then a run to the finish line.107
  • Between the parts come two changes, made in the transition area: T1 from swim to bike and T2 from bike to run. The clock keeps running through both, and each change is timed as a part of the race.8110
  • Elite championship races are held over two distances: the standard, or Olympic, distance of a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km ride and a 10 km run, which takes around two hours, and the sprint, half of it, which takes about one.2
  • The swim is in open water, around buoys. In elite races the athletes go to the start one by one, in order of start number, each picks a place on the line, and all set off at the sound of the horn.2101

How a race is won

  • The winner is the athlete with the shortest time from the start signal to the finish, with both transitions counted in that time.110
  • An athlete has finished when any part of the torso crosses the vertical line above the front edge of the finish line; the head, arms and legs do not count.1
  • Breaking a rule can bring a time penalty, served by stopping, usually in a penalty box on the course; an athlete who chooses not to stop is disqualified on crossing the finish line.18
  • Apart from drafting, a time penalty lasts 10 seconds in a sprint race, 15 seconds at the standard distance and 5 seconds in races shorter than a sprint.1

What to watch for

  • Elite sprint and standard races are draft-legal: riders may sit close behind one another and ride in packs, so tactics on the bike matter as well as speed.21
  • With packs riding together, several athletes often come into T2 at the same time, which puts much of the race on the run.10
  • Even when drafting is allowed, a rider may not draft behind an athlete of the other gender, one on a different lap, or a motorbike or vehicle. Athletes lapped on the bike are withdrawn from the race.1
Following it about 4 minutes

Single races, semi-finals and finals

  • At the Olympic Games each triathlon is a single race for all the starters, with no heats.11
  • Some events are raced as semi-finals and a final, with at most 30 athletes in any race. With 31 to 60 entrants there are two semi-finals: the first 14 of each go to the final, with the 2 fastest of the others.1

The mixed relay

  • A mixed relay team is two women and two men, racing in the order woman, man, woman, man. Each completes a whole triathlon, swim, bike and run, before the next sets off, and the team's clock never stops.14
  • Each leg is a 250 to 300 m swim, a 5 to 8 km ride and a 1.5 to 2 km run; at the Paris 2024 Olympics it was 300 m, 8 km and 2 km.111
  • The handover is a touch: the incoming athlete's hand must touch the next teammate inside an exchange zone 15 m long. Only the team's last athlete crosses the finish line.14

Drafting rules in detail

  • Middle- and long-distance races, and age-group races at the standard distance, are non-drafting. Each rider has a draft zone 12 m long from the front edge of the front wheel; another rider may go into it only to pass, and has at most 25 seconds to get through.1
  • A drafting penalty is 30 seconds in a sprint, 1 minute at the standard distance, 2 minutes in a middle-distance race and 3 minutes in a long one. A second one means disqualification at the standard distance or shorter; in longer races, a third.1

The season

  • Each year the World Triathlon Championship Series takes elite athletes to standard- and sprint-distance races around the world; they score points in each round, and the world champions are crowned at the Final.2312
  • Below the series are the World Triathlon Cups, also held each year, and below those the Continental Cups, where athletes earn ranking points towards places in the series.213
  • Triathlon has been on the Olympic programme since Sydney 2000, and the mixed relay since Tokyo 2020; the next Olympic races are in Los Angeles from 15 to 20 July 2028.64

Distances and relays

Super sprint
A 250 to 500 m swim, a 6.5 to 13 km ride and a 1.7 to 3.5 km run; open to athletes from 15.1
Sprint
A 750 m swim, a 20 km ride and a 5 km run, half the standard distance; open to athletes from 16.12
Standard (Olympic)
A 1500 m swim, a 40 km ride and a 10 km run, the distance of the Olympic individual races; open to athletes from 18.111
Middle distance
A 1900 to 2999 m swim, an 80 to 90 km ride and a 20 to 21.9 km run, raced without drafting.1
Long distance
A 3000 to 4000 m swim, a 91 to 200 km ride and a 22 to 42.2 km run, raced without drafting; elite races can last up to seven hours.15
Mixed relay
Two women and two men in the order woman, man, woman, man, each racing a 250 to 300 m swim, a 5 to 8 km ride and a 1.5 to 2 km run.1
2x2 mixed relay
One woman and one man who each race two relay legs, in the order woman, man, woman, man.1
Same-gender relay
Three athletes of the same gender, each racing one full leg of the relay length.1
The words
T1
The first change, from swim to bike.8
T2
The second change, from bike to run.8
Transition area
The marked-off area, outside the swim, bike and run courses, where each athlete has a place to rack the bike and keep kit.18
Drafting
Riding close behind another rider to save energy: allowed in elite short races; in a non-drafting race, entering another rider's draft zone without completing the pass within 25 seconds.81
Draft zone
The area 12 m long and the width of the road, measured back from the front edge of a rider's front wheel.1
Penalty box
An area on the bike or run course where an athlete stops to serve a time penalty.18
Blue card
The card shown to a rider penalised for drafting.1
Mount line
The line at the exit of transition after which an athlete may get on the bike.81
Dismount line
The line at the entrance of transition before which athletes must be off their bikes.1
Wetsuit
A close-fitting rubber suit for cold water, at most 5 mm thick; for elite swims up to 1500 m it is forbidden at 20 °C and above and compulsory at 15.9 °C and below.891
Trisuit
The shorts and top, or one-piece suit, worn for the whole race.8
Aerobars
Bars that reach forward from the handlebars, where a rider rests the elbows in a tucked position.8
Split time
An athlete's time for one part of the race: the swim, the bike or the run.8
Age-grouper
An amateur who races athletes of the same gender in a five-year age band, such as 25–29.8

Sources

Facts from the governing body's pages are stated in this site's own words. The claims that cite Wikipedia are adapted (changed) from the cited articles, and those claims are offered under CC BY-SA 4.0.

  1. World Triathlon Competition Rules, 13 December 2025 edition with amendments of 31 March and 29 April 2026 (file World-Triathlon_Competition-Rules_20260429.pdf), World Triathlon (The official rules; nothing of it is copied here), read 2026-11-05
  2. Elite Triathlon, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  3. World Triathlon Championship Series, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  4. Triathlon Mixed Relay, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  5. Long Distance Triathlon, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  6. Olympic Games Triathlon, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  7. Age-Group Racing, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  8. Talk Like a Triathlete, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  9. Triathlon FAQs, World Triathlon (© World Triathlon; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  10. Triathlon, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  11. Triathlon at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  12. World Triathlon Championship Series, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  13. World Triathlon Cup, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  14. triathlon (Q10980), Wikidata (CC0), read 2026-11-05

Watch

From the channels of triathlon's own rights holders: bodies whose Wikidata record names the sport, each checked by the rights holders' rule. Their videos play in YouTube's player, with YouTube's ads, on each video's own page once you press Play.

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Starting within 48 hours

Later

2 of the sport's videos and broadcasts are not shown where you are: their rights holders limit them to other countries on YouTube, and YouTube's region for each one decides.

From FITRI - Federazione Italiana Triathlon, Triathlon Ireland [Reg. No, World Triathlon, ASC Göttingen von e.V (its triathlon videos, by their own titles), Eintracht Frankfurt (its triathlon videos, by their own titles), Inicio | Club Hércules Termaria (its triathlon videos, by their own titles), Roter Stern Leipzig (its triathlon videos, by their own titles) and XVIII Juegos Bolivarianos (its triathlon videos, by their own titles).

From the world's archives: search their films for “triathlon”, which finds the films whose records hold the word, as each archive files them.

Play: the videogames

None of the site's own games is about triathlon.

Elsewhere

Videogames whose Wikidata record names triathlon as their sport or subject, as their records state them (read 2026-11-05). Information only: each links to its official page where its record names one. They are not played here.

Follow: what's on next

The next competitions, at the dates where they are held. Their dates are from their own Wikidata records. Add one to your calendar: the file is made here and nothing is asked of you.

Later, dates to come

The full calendar, national competitions included, is World Triathlon's events.