Has the time has come for the elite triathletes of the world to form a union?
To protect their interests in the sport, it would be wise for the athletes to band together in a trade union and use their collective strength to their advantage.
A brief attempt was made with the Professional Triathletes Union, which primarily consisted of long distance triathletes and was the precursor to the PTO. The proposal here is for a fully-fledged union to look out purely for the interests of athletes.
There are four primary pillars upon which a union would need to be built: athlete welfare, athlete consultation, athlete compensation and profit sharing.
Athlete welfare
There are several areas for concern when it comes to athlete welfare.
The most obvious issue has been that of the water quality of elite races. While this is not a new topic, the recent WTCS Sunderland and Paris Test Event were conducted in what appeared to be unsafe swimming conditions and resulted in athlete sickness.
As a result, there may be merit in the athletes negotiating a standard safe water level a universal measurement for what is considered acceptable at races.
Then there is the issue of travel. The current elite schedule is not built with athletes in mind. As noted by Márk Dévay, “there are so many World Cups it’s actually insane. Maybe its a bit too crazy.”
Whereas there were no World Cup races in April or May (and only two across June and July), there are six in October alone.
On another note, more can be done for athlete representation. In cases of bullying and discrimination, having a body to guide and support athletes rather than leaving the athlete to make their case alone would be a boon. Moreover, an athlete can rarely go to their national federation to lodge complaints about their national federation when their careers are dependant upon their federation.
Athletes therefore have an incentive to form a union that would actually be able to represent them and look out for their welfare.
Athlete consultation
The next pillar is that of athlete consultation.
On this front, the European Championships in Madrid are a perfect example of what can go wrong in the current model. In Madrid, the swim was cancelled, until it was not, and then it was again on the morning of the race. With the flip-flopping, the conduct of the organisers left much to be desired.
Instances such as Madrid highlight how athletes do not have a body to hold governing bodies to account.
The swim cancellations at the recent World Para Cup and Mixed Team Relay in Paris further reinforce the need for better athlete consultation. The athletes received a last-minute email to update them of the situation. Far from being included in the decision-making process, the athletes were an afterthought.
There are a litany of issues that would also benefit from better athlete consultation. Foremost among them is the subject of anti-doping. Furthermore, the re-introduction of Russian athletes could have entailed greater athlete consultation.
The changes to race formats in the WTCS, such as the introduction of the Super Sprint format, have also been top-down impositions on the athletes without guidance. When it comes to the WTCS, at the start of the season, some WTCS medallists found out via TriStats reporting that the points structure of the Series would change rather than from World Triathlon. Even this small anecdote speaks to a failure of communication.
Athlete compensation
The clearest instance of neglect in athlete compensation came at the Paris Olympic Test Event. Even though it was a tougher race than the Olympic Games due to quota restrictions, it was paid as a World Cup and far below the WTCS norm.
That was unfair and the athletes deserved appropriate pay for their performances.
In general, triathlon does not pay well. That much is fairly well-established. If you finish 20th at four WTCS races as well as the WTCS Final and then 20th in the Series, you will make USD 11,000. That is less than minimum wage for your efforts to become the 20th best in the world.
Something has to give.
However, the push for change has to be coordinated and powerful. Isolated and infrequent complaints on social media will not bring about change. Instead, it will take a serious campaign to make a difference.
Profit sharing
The fourth and final pillar is without question the trickiest to navigate.
The proliferation of private actors in the sport may help boost prize money in the short run. The bulk of the money, however, will remain in the hands of private finance. Whoever owns the sport controls it, from organisation to financial renumeration
Across World Triathlon, Super League Triathlon and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), athletes should have a real seat at the table. This would not be as an “Advisory Board” but rather being actively invested in the entities and represented as shareholders.
On the World Triathlon front, athletes should have a place (or a union representative) on the Executive Board to determine the future of the sport.
With regards to Super League and the PTO, athletes should push for a percentage ownership of both enterprises. It is the only way to ensure they have a say in the direction of the entities and that they share in the profits of the sport.
With the money from the shared profits, a retirement fund could be set up. Alternatively, a fund could be created to assist injured athletes.
Santara Technology, a company part-owned by Kristian Blummenfelt, has taken an ownership stake in one of the Super League teams. The goal, though, should be for a collective of triathletes that have a stake in the enterprise, rather than one or two names.
When it comes down to it, the voice of one is always weaker than the voice of many. Triathletes are not powerless in their current position and there are steps open to them to fight for the better welfare, better consultation, better compensation and even profit sharing.
The road will be hard, that much is true. With a dedicated union behind it, though, the elite triathletes of the world could revolutionise the conditions they face.
The only step that matters is the first one.
