World Triathlon President Antonio Fernández Arimany believes the future growth of the organisation extends far beyond traditional triathlon alone.
As the governing body moves towards the launch of the new Triathlon World Tour in 2027, it is also expanding into emerging endurance disciplines including HYROX, fitness racing and Swimrun — moves Arimany says reflect a much broader vision for the federation itself.
“We are a multi-sport federation,” he told TRI247 in a recent interview as we looked to find out more about future plans.
“That’s why when we saw these opportunities, and they wanted to be recognised, this is the place where they can be recognised because it matches our DNA.”
The comments underline how World Triathlon increasingly sees its role within the wider endurance landscape.
HYROX growth ‘amazing’
Among the most eye-catching developments is the federation’s growing relationship with HYROX, the rapidly expanding fitness racing format which has exploded in popularity globally over recent years.
“It’s growing worldwide – it’s amazing how much it is growing,” Arimany says.
“This is the opportunity for us, but also for them, to be recognised by official sport institutions.”
World Triathlon believes the discipline’s endurance focus aligns naturally with its broader sporting identity.
“We are endurance,” Arimany explained. “That’s why we can recognise HYROX today, because it has its endurance part. Not only are we incorporating a rapidly-growing discipline, but we are also opening the door to a new community that may feel attracted to our sport.”
Looking beyond traditional triathlon
The expansion also reflects a wider ambition to position World Triathlon at the centre of a broader participation and wellness movement, rather than purely as the governing body for Olympic triathlon.
“The future of the sport is really in the multi-sport events,” Arimany said.
“That’s what people are trying to do.”
Alongside HYROX, World Triathlon has already moved to recognise Swimrun as part of its growing portfolio of disciplines.
The strategy comes at a time when participation-driven endurance formats continue to experience major growth globally, fuelled by increasing interest in fitness, wellness and community-based events.
Commercial and Olympic ambitions
The federation also sees commercial opportunities in broadening its reach across multiple endurance sports.
“We want to have presence in all the markets,” Arimany said.
“Our target is to have millions of audience on television and social media – we have to talk about millions, not hundreds of thousands.”
While triathlon remains firmly at the centre of the organisation’s Olympic strategy, Arimany also suggested formats such as T100 could eventually become part of future Olympic discussions if they continue growing commercially and globally.
“We have to make these events commercially valuable,” he said.
“If we succeed on that, I think our events will be attractive to be in the Olympic programme.”
A changing identity
The shift towards becoming what Arimany repeatedly describes as a “multi-sport federation” highlights how dramatically the endurance landscape is evolving.
Rather than seeing new formats as competition, World Triathlon increasingly appears to view them as part of a wider ecosystem connected by endurance, participation and mass appeal.
Of course they have long been in charge of the likes of aquathlon and duathlon and earlier this year organised the Winter Triathlon and Duathlon World Championships in Padola, Italy.
But as the road to LA28 continues at WTCS Quiberon this week, the organisation’s ambitions appear to be stretching further than ever before.
