How different is a triathlon to a duathlon?
Ostensibly, at least, the only thing that changes is the first discipline. Switch out the swim for another run and leave the last two disciplines intact; it’s close enough. The swimmers in the field are the ones penalised the most by such a change.
Yet that does not mean that the faster runners are necessarily the ones to benefit. After all, adding an extra run creates a different challenge. At the European Championships in Madrid, the switch of the 1500m swim to a 5km run gave the race a total of 15km of running. All told, that creates an intense affair and affects both the bike and second run in ways that a swim does not.
Whereas a swim poses a full body challenge, a second run makes the duathlon considerably more leg-heavy. Rather than purely benefitting faster runners, then, a duathlon switch also hands an advantage to older, more experienced athletes that can manage their effort and have years of training to fall back upon to coax more from their legs.
The pertinence of this question is not simply because of the events in Madrid. It is because Madrid was not an isolated incident.
The switch of a race from a triathlon to a duathlon happened at WTCS Montreal in 2022. The Super Sprint qualifiers were compromised as a result. With the shortened nature of that event, it definitely did help the runners more than the swimmers. Meanwhile, at the same event, the World Junior Championships had to be held as a duathlon.
It was unfortunate to say the least that the biggest event of the Junior calendar was affected. If we wind the clock further back, the same thing happened at the World Junior Championships in Chicago in 2015.
When water quality issues make an open water swim impossible, a change has to be made. No one is suggesting putting the athletes’ health in jeopardy. Switching to a duathlon is one option. Indeed it is the option for which World Triathlon has reached more often than not.
However maybe there is a better one.
If the open water location is unavailable, a swimming time trial could be held either the day before or on the morning of the event. This would be similar to the Junior tests held in Britain and Germany earlier this year. At both the athletes raced in the pool before having a gap prior to taking on the second two disciplines. This way there would be no need to arrange a T1 at the pool itself.
At WTCS events, it is commonplace for World Triathlon to arrange swimming lanes for the athletes to use in the lead up to the event. They could use the same lanes to log a 750m time trial (or 1500m for Olympic distance races).
The bike and run would then take place over the original course with athletes set off in a stagger determined by their swim times. The stagger would also enliven the race from the start as athletes either have to close others down or defend the lead they have already earned.
It would be a logistical challenge, for sure. Arranging the swimming lanes would be a hassle. In addition it would be hard to televise the swim in that circumstance.
On the other hand, it is arguably no harder than having to plan a last-minute run route. Moreover, for some viewers, adding a second run at the start does not make the event any more interesting.
The major benefit of this approach would be to retain the integrity of the event as a triathlon. Whereas a switch to a duathlon fundamentally changes the task at hand, a pool swim would at least keep the primacy of the three sport challenge.
Pool swimming is also a common feature of age-group triathlons around the world. There would be something novel to seeing the best triathletes in the world take on the same challenge as those at all other levels of the sport.
Furthermore, on a statistical front, it would provide an insight into just how fast WTCS athletes swim at races. After all, times in open water can be fairly meaningless in terms of comparison.
Going forward, then, a pool swim may be a better alternative for eventualities in which swimming in open water is not an option. The athletes still get the triathlon they bargained for and the event holds onto its integrity. With a staggered start and the potential for accurate times, it could even make the event more interesting than a duathlon.
As such, the next time an elite triathlon is confronted with an issue like Madrid, maybe there is another solution.
