Category: Comment

The Terminology of Elite Triathlon Explained

Benjamin Eastman

Elite triathlon comes in various forms. Broadly speaking, racing at the elite level in short course can be broken down by distance and by the category of race. To start with distances, the races all follow a similar logic. The Olympic distance was the original distance having been standardised over thirty years ago as part of triathlon’s pitch to be included in the Summer Olympics. This format consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run. The Sprint distance evolved a little later. This format involves a 750m swim,…

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How are the 2022 WTCS Points and Rankings Calculated?

Benjamin Eastman
Stockholm bike through T2

The World Triathlon Championship Series is used to determine the World Champion for the year although at times it can be a little tricky to figure out how the system works. When does the season run? The 2022 season has been contested from September 2021 through to November 2022. The anomaly of racing taking place in 2021 was caused by delays to the races in Hamburg and Abu Dhabi in 2021 which, for pandemic-related reasons, had to be postponed. In addition to the two 2021 races, there have been a…

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What do the World Triathlon Rankings Mean?

Benjamin Eastman

All triathletes that compete internationally in World Triathlon events are included in World Triathlon’s rankings. Different races are given different scores and weightings to determine how athletes should be ranked at any given time of the year. Breaking down the numbers Athletes can have a maximum of 12 events to count towards their ranking. These events are split across two windows:(i) 6 events are taken from the 52 weeks previous to the date of the publication of the rankings list (the current period);(ii) 6 events are taken from the days…

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What is TriStats all about?

Benjamin Eastman

Welcome to TriStats! For those of you that discovered TriStats on Instagram, you probably have a good idea of what we are trying to offer. TriStats offers statistics, analysis and commentary on elite triathlon. We started in 2021 ahead of the first WTCS race of the season in Yokohama. The idea was simple: to provide the specialised analysis and coverage of Olympic triathlon that we could not find elsewhere. The more we posted the more we enjoyed it. Our interest is in World Triathlon racing (or “short course” racing). As…

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How Will Triathletes Qualify for the Paris Olympic Games?

Benjamin Eastman
T2 image

How do athletes qualify individually? The Olympic Qualification period runs over the course of 24 months, from 27 May 2022 to 27 May 2024. This period is split into two parts; the First Part runs from 27 May 2022 to 26 May 2023 and the Second Part runs from 27 May 2023 to 27 May 2024. Athletes can use their twelve best results in total towards Olympic qualification. In the First Part, a maximum of six results count. In the Second Part a maximum of eight results count. The twelve…

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