The Olympic Games at Paris 2024 are here, and the best short-course triathlon men in the world WILL today (Wednesday July 31) bid for the biggest prize in the sport, an Olympic gold medal.
The race should have taken place at 8am local time on Tuesday but ongoing water quality issues in the River Seine forced it to be postponed and it will now take place after the women’s race on Wednesday – after both were given the green light a little earlier.
It all means defending champion Kristian Blummenfelt and the rest of a stellar field (full start list and bib numbers are here) will dive into the iconic River Seine at 10.45am on Wednesday July 31, with the Norwegian aiming to become only the second athlete after Alistair Brownlee to win consecutive gold medals.
In our TV guide for the men’s individual race below, we have all the information you need, including start times, streaming and a look at the main medal contenders.
Triathlon start time and how to watch live
The individual men’s race will now take place today (Wednesday July 31), with the gun going off in Paris at 10:45 local time. This corresponds to 09:45 in the UK, 04:45 on the East Coast of the United States and 01:45 PST on the West Coast.
The action in the French capital will be available to watch via media rights holders, which vary from country-to-country. In the United Kingdom, the racing will be available on BBC Sport, with Discovery Eurosport providing coverage across Europe.
Additionally, in France the racing will be live on France Télévisions, with German viewers able to watch the race on ARD/ZDF, Italy airs coverage on RAI while the race in Spain will be on RTVE. In North America, CBC will be providing coverage in Canada and NBC/Peacock will broadcast and stream the race in the United States.
Elsewhere, the race will be available on Nine in Australia, Globo in Brazil, Fuji TV/NHK/Nippon TV/TBS/TV Asahi/TV Tokyo in Japan, SKY NZ in New Zealand and SuperSport in South Africa.
Olympic triathlon course at Paris 2024
The individual races in Paris on July 31 will be contested over the Olympic triathlon distance, which is made up of a 1500m swim in the River Seine, a 40km bike made up of seven laps of 5.715km and a 10km run made up of four laps of 2.5km.
![Alex Yee run Paris Test Event 2023 [Photo credit: World Triathlon / Wagner Araujo]](https://www.tri247.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Alex-Yee-run-Paris-Test-Event-2023.jpg)
In the French capital, the race course is centred around the Pont Alexandre III bridge, with transition situated on the bridge itself. The course takes in many of the city’s most famous sights, including the iconic Champs-Élysées on the bike.
For an in-depth article on the course itself and how it could impact the way the race pans out, click here for our full analysis.
Leading contenders – who is racing at Paris 2024?
Whilst our resident triathlon encyclopedia John Levison has already provided in-depth analysis AND podium picks, we wanted to give you a quick overview here of the biggest names to look out for on Wednesday.
![Kristian Blummenfelt Paris Test Event [Photo credit: World Triathlon / Wagner Araujo]](https://www.tri247.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Kristian-Blummenfelt-Paris-Test-Event.jpg)
Blummenfelt, the defending champion, has won a number of other accolades since taking gold in Tokyo three years ago, including the IRONMAN World Championship, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and the 2023 PTO Tour Asian Open.
In Olympic-distance racing, however, he has been overshadowed by the brilliance of Britain’s Alex Yee and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, who won silver and bronze medals respectively behind the Norwegian in Japan.
Yee, closely followed by Wilde, will be the big favourite for the gold medal in Paris, after winning the Test Event here 12 months ago and also triumphing more recently at WTCS Cagliari, the last major test before the Games.
French world champion Dorian Coninx, and his compatriots Leo Bergere (2022 world champion) and Pierre Le Corre (WTCS winner), will look to carry Les Bleus to a home triumph, but will likely have to record career best performances to contend with Yee.
Finally, Matthew Hauser of Australia will be riding high after victory at WTCS Hamburg a fortnight ago, and alongside American Morgan Pearson and Yee, is one of only three male athletes to win a major race so far this season.
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