Olympic Games Triathlon – Paris 2024
Despite only becoming reality in Sydney in 2000, triathlon has already produced some incredible moments and memories at the Olympic Games.
The 2024 Games will come round quicker than normal after Tokyo 2020 was delayed to the summer of 2021, and it will provide another breathtaking swim/bike/run spectacle.
Tokyo offered three triathlon events for the first time too, with the debut of the hugely popular Mixed Relay – won in thrilling fashion by Team Great Britain (Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Jonny Brownlee and Alex Yee).
Kristian Blummenfelt provided a lung-bursting run to glory in the men’s individual race, while Flora Duffy claimed a first ever Olympic gold medal for Bermuda in any sport with a sensational performance to claim the women’s title.
Before that Alistair Brownlee became the only athlete so far to claim Olympic gold twice, by prevailing in London in 2012 and Rio four years later.
2008 meanwhile saw current long-distance king Jan Frodeno claim gold for Germany, while his future wife Emma Snowsill won the women’s race for Australia.
Perhaps the most iconic moment (so far) in Olympic triathlon history was the incredible run for gold between Nicola Spirig and Lisa Norden in London 2012, with the Swiss star just prevailing over the Swede in the closest of finishes, decided only following analysis of the photo-finish images.
Olympic Distance
The individual races take place over a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike and a 10km run. Drafting is allowed during the bike leg.
Things are slightly different for Mixed Relay, where national teams are made up of two men and two women. Each individual completes swim, bike and run legs before tagging the next athlete. The teams must complete the race in the following order: male-female-male-female.
The leg completed by each athlete completes consists of a 300m swim, a 6.8km bike and a 2km run.
Olympic Games Triathlon Winners
Individual Women
- Sydney 2000: Brigitte McMahon (SUI)
- Athens 2004: Kate Allen (AUT)
- Beijing 2008: Emma Snowsill (AUS)
- London 2012: Nicola Spirig (SUI)
- Rio 2016: Gwen Jorgensen (USA)
- Tokyo 2020: Flora Duffy (BER)
Individual Men
- Sydney 2000: Simon Whitfield (CAN)
- Athens 2004: Hamish Carter (NZL)
- Beijing 2008: Jan Frodeno (GER)
- London 2012: Alistair Brownlee (GBR)
- Rio 2016: Alistair Brownlee (GBR)
- Tokyo 2020: Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR)
Mixed Relay
- Tokyo 2020: Great Britain
Triathlon at Paris 2024
There will again be three triathlon races in Paris in 2024 – Individual Women, Individual Men and Mixed Relay.
The number of athletes will also remain the same as it was in Tokyo with a total of 110 slots – 55 for women and 55 for men.
As well as Blummenfelt and Duffy hopefully heading for France to defend their titles, we have another potential storyline to add to the mix in the shape of 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Lucy Charles-Barclay. Her stated goal is to make the Great Britain team for 2024, no easy task given the tremendous strength in depth GB has right now – particularly in terms of the women.