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World Triathlon Championship Series

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World Triathlon Championship Series
SportTriathlon
First season2009
Most recent
champion(s)		 Leo Bergere (FRA)
 Flora Duffy (BER)
Most titles Javier Gómez (ESP) (5)
Sponsor(s)NTT
Official websitewtcs.triathlon.org
Current sports event 2022

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.

History

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]

Disciplines

Currently there are three different distance disciplines:

  • Standard- A 1500m swim followed by a 40 km cycle followed by a 10 km run.
  • Sprint- A 750m swim followed by a 20 km cycle followed by a 5 km run.
  • Mixed Team Relay- A 4 x ( 300m swim followed by a 7.5 km cycle followed by a 1.5 km run) where each athlete completes the swim bike run before tagging the next athlete, with the order of the athletes always being female, male, female, male.

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]

Champions

Men's championship

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2009  Alistair Brownlee (GBR)  Javier Gómez (ESP)  Maik Petzold (GER)
2010  Javier Gómez (ESP) (2 †)  Steffen Justus (GER)  Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS)
2011  Alistair Brownlee (GBR) (2)  Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)  Javier Gómez (ESP)
2012  Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)  Javier Gómez (ESP)  Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS)
2013  Javier Gómez (ESP) (3)  Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)  Mario Mola (ESP)
2014  Javier Gómez (ESP) (4)  Mario Mola (ESP)  Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)
2015  Javier Gómez (ESP) (5)  Mario Mola (ESP)  Vincent Luis (FRA)
2016  Mario Mola (ESP)  Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)  Fernando Alarza (ESP)
2017  Mario Mola (ESP) (2)  Javier Gómez (ESP)  Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR)
2018  Mario Mola (ESP) (3)  Vincent Luis (FRA)  Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS)
2019  Vincent Luis (FRA)  Mario Mola (ESP)  Javier Gómez (ESP)
2020‡  Vincent Luis (FRA) (2)  Vasco Vilaça (POR)  Léo Bergere (FRA)
2021  Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR)  Marten Van Riel (BEL)  Alex Yee (GBR)
2022  Léo Bergère (FRA)  Alex Yee (GBR)  Hayden Wilde (NZL)

[12]† 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.

Women's championship

Year Gold Silver Bronze
2009  Emma Moffatt (AUS)  Lisa Nordén (SWE)  Andrea Hewitt (NZL)
2010  Emma Moffatt (AUS) (2)  Nicola Spirig (SUI)  Lisa Nordén (SWE)
2011  Helen Jenkins (GBR) (2 †)  Andrea Hewitt (NZL)  Sarah Groff (USA)
2012  Lisa Nordén (SWE)  Anne Haug (GER)  Andrea Hewitt (NZL)
2013  Non Stanford (GBR)  Jodie Stimpson (GBR)  Anne Haug (GER)
2014  Gwen Jorgensen (USA)  Sarah Groff (USA)  Andrea Hewitt (NZL)
2015  Gwen Jorgensen (USA) (2)  Andrea Hewitt (NZL)  Sarah True (USA)
2016  Flora Duffy (BER)  Gwen Jorgensen (USA)  Ai Ueda (JPN)
2017  Flora Duffy (BER) (2)  Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)  Katie Zaferes (USA)
2018  Vicky Holland (GBR)  Katie Zaferes (USA)  Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR)
2019  Katie Zaferes (USA)  Jessica Learmonth (GBR)  Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR)
2020‡  Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR)  Flora Duffy (BER)  Laura Lindemann (GER)
2021  Flora Duffy (BER) (3)  Taylor Knibb (USA)  Taylor Spivey (USA)
2022  Flora Duffy (BER) (4)  Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR)  Taylor Knibb (USA)

[12]† 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.

Medals classification

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Spain76417
2 Great Britain75416
3 United States34411
4 Bermuda3104
5 Australia2125
 France2125
7 Sweden1113
8 Norway1012
9 Germany0235
 New Zealand0235
11 Belgium0101
 Portugal0101
 Switzerland0101
14 Japan0011
 Russia0011
Totals (15 entries)26262678

Hosts

World Triathlon Series locations

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
 Australia Gold Coast GF • • • GF
Sydney • • •
 Austria Kitzbühel • • • • •
 Bermuda Bermuda • •
 Canada Edmonton GF • • • • MR • MR
Montreal • • •
 China Beijing GF
 Germany Hamburg • • • • • • • • • • MR • MR •
 Great Britain Leeds • • • •
London • • • GF • •
Nottingham MR MR
 Hungary Budapest GF
 Japan Tokyo MR
Yokohama • • • • • • • • • •
 Mexico Cozumel GF
 Netherlands Rotterdam GF
 New Zealand Auckland GF • • •
 South Africa Cape Town • • •
 South Korea Seoul •
Tongyeong •
 Spain Madrid • • • • •
 Sweden Stockholm • • • • • •
  Switzerland Lausanne • GF
 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi • • • • • MR
 United States Chicago • GF
San Diego • •
Washington, D.C. •

Where GF = Grand Final, MR = Mixed Relay event

World Triathlon Series Grand Final locations

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[13]
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

*2020 Series was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Champion was determined during a single sprint race event in Hamburg, Germany.

ITU Triathlon World Championship

ITU Triathlon World Championship
Founded1989
Ceased2008
Replaced byITU 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.

Results

Men's championship

Year Gold Silver Bronze
1989  Mark Allen (USA)  Glenn Cook (GBR)  Rick Wells (NZL)
1990  Greg Welch (AUS)  Brad Beven (AUS)  Stephen Foster (AUS)
1991  Miles Stewart (AUS)  Rick Wells (NZL)  Mike Pigg (USA)
1992  Simon Lessing (GBR)  Rainer Müller-Hörner (GER)  Rob Barel (NED)
1993  Spencer Smith (GBR)  Simon Lessing (GBR)  Hamish Carter (NZL)
1994  Spencer Smith (GBR) (2)  Brad Beven (AUS)  Ralf Eggert (GER)
1995  Simon Lessing (GBR) (2)  Brad Beven (AUS)  Ralf Eggert (GER)
1996  Simon Lessing (GBR) (3)  Luc Van Lierde (BEL)  Leandro Macedo (BRA)
1997  Chris McCormack (AUS)  Hamish Carter (NZL)  Simon Lessing (GBR)
1998  Simon Lessing (GBR) (4)  Paul Amey (NZL)  Miles Stewart (AUS)
1999  Dmitriy Gaag (KAZ)  Simon Lessing (GBR)  Miles Stewart (AUS)
2000  Olivier Marceau (FRA)  Peter Robertson (AUS)  Craig Walton (AUS)
2001  Peter Robertson (AUS)  Chris Hill (AUS)  Craig Watson (NZL)
2002  Iván Raña (ESP)  Peter Robertson (AUS)  Andrew Johns (GBR)
2003  Peter Robertson (AUS) (2)  Iván Raña (ESP)  Olivier Marceau (SUI)
2004  Bevan Docherty (NZL)  Iván Raña (ESP)  Dmitriy Gaag (KAZ)
2005  Peter Robertson (AUS) (3)  Reto Hug (SUI)  Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS)
2006  Tim Don (GBR)  Hamish Carter (NZL)  Frédéric Belaubre (FRA)
2007  Daniel Unger (GER)  Javier Gómez (ESP)  Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS)
2008  Javier Gómez (ESP)  Bevan Docherty (NZL)  Reto Hug (SUI)

Women's championship

Australian Emma Snowsill captured the title on 3 different occasions.
Year Gold Silver Bronze
1989  Erin Baker (NZL)  Jan Ripple (USA)  Laurie Samuelson (USA)
1990  Karen Smyers (USA)  Carol Montgomery (CAN)  Joy Hansen (USA)
1991  Joanne Ritchie (CAN)  Terri Smith (CAN)  Michellie Jones (AUS)
1992  Michellie Jones (AUS)  Joanne Ritchie (CAN)  Melissa Mantak (USA)
1993  Michellie Jones (AUS) (2)  Karen Smyers (USA)  Joanne Ritchie (CAN)
1994  Emma Carney (AUS)  Anette Pedersen (DEN)  Sarah Harrow (NZL)
1995  Karen Smyers (USA) (2)  Jackie Gallagher (AUS)  Joy Leutner (USA)
1996  Jackie Gallagher (AUS)  Emma Carney (AUS)  Carol Montgomery (CAN)
1997  Emma Carney (AUS) (2)  Jackie Gallagher (AUS)  Michellie Jones (AUS)
1998  Joanne King (AUS)  Michellie Jones (AUS)  Evelyn Williamson (NZL)
1999  Loretta Harrop (AUS)  Jackie Gallagher (AUS)  Emma Carney (AUS)
2000  Nicole Hackett (AUS)  Carol Montgomery (CAN)  Michellie Jones (AUS)
2001  Siri Lindley (USA)  Michellie Jones (AUS)  Joanna Zeiger (USA)
2002  Leanda Cave (GBR)  Barbara Lindquist (USA)  Michelle Dillon (GBR)
2003  Emma Snowsill (AUS)  Laura Bennett (USA)  Michellie Jones (AUS)
2004  Sheila Taormina (USA)  Loretta Harrop (AUS)  Laura Bennett (USA)
2005  Emma Snowsill (AUS) (2)  Annabel Luxford (AUS)  Laura Bennett (USA)
2006  Emma Snowsill (AUS) (3)  Vanessa Fernandes (POR)  Felicity Abram (AUS)
2007  Vanessa Fernandes (POR)  Emma Snowsill (AUS)  Laura Bennett (USA)
2008  Helen Tucker (GBR)  Sarah Haskins (USA)  Samantha Warriner (NZL)

Medal table

Pos National Team Gold Silver Bronze
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

Host city

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

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ITU Triathlon World Championships.

References

  1. ^ a b "2018-WTS-Media-Guide" (PDF). 23 August 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2018.
  2. ^ Union, International Triathlon (2008-10-17). "ITU World Championship Series". Triathlon.org. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  3. ^ Slowtwitch.com. "ITU replaces one-day Elite World Championship with new six-race ‘Super Series’". Slowtwitch.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. ^ "BG drop triathlon sponsorship". www.insidethegames.biz. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. ^ Union, International Triathlon (2008-12-20). "The BG Legacy". Triathlon.org. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  6. ^ "Dextro Energy sign up with triathlon - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com. 10 February 2009. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  7. ^ "Brand history". Dextro Energy. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  8. ^ "Dextro to sponsor new triathlon series". www.sportindustry.biz. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  9. ^ "Sprint And Team Championships Added To The 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series | Triathlete". Triathlete. 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  10. ^ a b "2013 Series Guide" (PDF). International Triathlon Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  11. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Mixed-gender events added to Olympic Games". BBC Sport. 2017-06-09. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  12. ^ a b Union, International Triathlon. "ITU Rankings Archive". Triathlon.org. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  13. ^ "2016 & 2017 WTS Grand Final hosts revealed". World Triathlon. 15 December 2014.
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