World Triathlon

What is World Triathlon?

World Triathlon is the international federation for triathlon and a family of related multisport disciplines. It was founded in 1989 as the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and has used its present name since October 2020.^[1][2] On its own site it describes itself as “the only organisation that can award the titles of World Triathlon Champions”.^[1]

Its constitution, as quoted on the federation’s governance page, fixes its legal character: “The seat of World Triathlon is in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its headquarters shall be decided by the Executive Board. It is a non-profit-making organisation and does not pursue any objective for its own gains.”^[3]

The disciplines it names on its About page are triathlon, aquathlon, duathlon, cross triathlon, winter triathlon, long distance triathlon and cross duathlon, together with mixed relay formats.^[1] Paratriathlon sits inside the same federation: World Triathlon records that the sport entered the Paralympic Games at Rio 2016 with six medal events.^[1] In October 2024 the Congress in Torremolinos, Spain, elected Antonio Fernández Arimany as the federation’s third president, succeeding Marisol Casado.^[11]

What does World Triathlon govern or do?

Rules and discipline. World Triathlon writes the competition rules for its disciplines and publishes, among its governance documents, a Code of Ethics, Disciplinary Rules and Rules on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions; tribunal decisions are published in a separate series headed “World Tribunal Decisions”.^[3]

Anti-doping. The International Testing Agency states that it “is supporting World Triathlon with the delivery of their anti-doping program since February 2020”. The services it lists as delegated include in- and out-of-competition testing, intelligence and investigations, the athlete biological passport, therapeutic use exemptions and results management.^[6] See anti-doping.

World titles. The federation stages the World Triathlon Championship Series, whose season ends in a final at which the world title is decided, and the multisport world championships for its other disciplines.^[7][9]

What it does not run. Long-distance racing also has circuits run by other organisations. The T100 Triathlon World Tour is the relaunched PTO Tour of the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO). World Triathlon’s announcement of 30 January 2024 records that the PTO’s partnership agreement with World Triathlon in August 2023 designated that tour “the official World Championship tour of long distance triathlon”, and that the women’s and men’s world champions would be crowned at its Grand Final.^[10] The IRONMAN World Championship and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship do not appear among the championships World Triathlon lists on its series and multisport pages.^[7][9]

When was World Triathlon founded and where is it based?

World Triathlon’s own history dates its founding to 1 April 1989, at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France, where preparations were made for the sport’s first World Championships “to be held in Avignon in August that year”.^[1] Olympedia confirms the date and place independently: “The International Triathlon Union (ITU) was founded on 1 April 1989, at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France, in the presence of a total of 30 National Federations.”^[2]

Renaming. Olympedia records: “In October 2020, the federation would change its name to World Triathlon (WT) in order to better serve the development of the sport in all its forms.” World Triathlon’s About page gives the same month.^[1][2]

Seat. The federation was based in Vancouver, Canada, until 1 January 2014, when it moved to Lausanne, according to its About page; Olympedia also dates the move to Lausanne to 2014.^[1][2] The constitution places the seat in Lausanne and leaves the location of the headquarters to the Executive Board.^[3]

Presidents. Olympedia lists Les McDonald of Canada as the first president, from 1989 to 2008, followed by Marisol Casado of Spain, 2008–2025, and Antonio Arimany from 2025.^[2] Antonio Fernández Arimany was elected the third president at the XXXVII Congress in October 2024.^[11]

How is World Triathlon recognised?

IOC. Olympedia records that “The federation was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 3 September 1994, at the IOC Session in Paris.”^[2] Recognition preceded the sport’s Olympic debut: triathlon entered the programme at Sydney 2000 with individual events for men and women, and has been on the Youth Olympic Games programme since Singapore 2010.^[2] World Triathlon’s own history also dates the Olympic debut to Sydney 2000.^[1]

Paralympic Games. World Triathlon states that paratriathlon made its Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 with six medal events, three for men and three for women.^[1]

ASOIF. World Triathlon is one of the 30 full members listed by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations.^[4]

WADA. WADA’s list of Code signatories carries “World Triathlon (ex-ITU)” among the international federations that are ASOIF members.^[5] Operational delivery of its anti-doping programme has been delegated to the International Testing Agency since February 2020.^[6]

Long-distance racing. The T100’s status as “the official World Championship tour of long distance triathlon” rests on the PTO’s partnership agreement with World Triathlon of August 2023, as World Triathlon reported when the tour was relaunched under the T100 name on 30 January 2024.^[10] See international federation for how recognition works across sports.

What does World Triathlon organise?

World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS). The 2026 series ran over eight rounds — Samarkand (25 April), Yokohama (16 May), Alghero (30 May), Quiberon (20 June), Hamburg (11 July), London (25 July), Weihai (29 August) and Karlovy Vary (13 September) — before the final.^[7] The 2026 World Triathlon Championship Finals were held in Pontevedra, Spain, from 23 to 27 September 2026, with the senior men’s and women’s races over 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run.^[8]

Multisport World Championships. The 2026 World Triathlon Multisport Championships are scheduled for Abu Dhabi, on Hudayriyat Island, from 13 to 22 November 2026. The programme World Triathlon lists covers aquathlon, long distance triathlon, aquabike, cross triathlon, cross duathlon and duathlon, with age-group and mixed relay races.^[9] World Triathlon dates the aquathlon world championships to 1998 in Noosa, Australia, held every year since and staged since 2017 within the multisport championships.^[9]

Multi-sport Games. Triathlon has been an Olympic sport since Sydney 2000 and a Paralympic sport since Rio 2016; at the Olympic Games it was first contested as individual men’s and women’s races.^[1][2] See Olympic qualification.

Who are its members?

National federations. World Triathlon states that it has over 170 affiliated national federations.^[1] Olympedia, counting independently, records that “As of January 2026, World Triathlon has 168 national member federations.”^[2] The difference is between a rounded figure on the federation’s own site and a dated count; neither source gives a membership list on the pages retrieved. At the founding Congress in 1989, Olympedia records, 30 national federations were present.^[2]

Continental confederations. The federation works through continental confederations; its governance documents include a published series of Continental Confederation Agreements with them.^[3]

Congress. The member federations meet in Congress, which elects the president: the XXXVII Congress, held in Torremolinos, Spain, and reported by the federation on 21 October 2024, elected Antonio Fernández Arimany as the third president, succeeding Marisol Casado after her 16 years in office.^[11]