The History of the Modern Triathlon

The History of the

MODERN TRIATHLON

Richard Mallett

THE HISTORY OF THE

MODERN TRIATHLON

RICHARD MALLETT

Races featuring multiple sports disciplines have been recorded since as early as 1920 in France, However, the modern triathlon is said to have originated in the 1970s.

In 1977, a debate took place between athletes at an awards banquet in Hawaii, arguing over the toughest discipline between running, cycling and swimming.

Birth of the Ironman The debate resulted in a decision to make athletes from all three disciplines compete in a multi-sport race of endurance. An all-day race was planned, beginning with swimming the Waikiki Roughwater Swim at a distance of 2.4 miles, followed by cycling the circumference of Oahu Island at a distance of 112 miles, finishing with a full marathon-length run of 26.2 miles. This event was recognised as the world’s first Ironman triathlon.

Triathlete Speciality The earliest triathlons soon showed that it wasn’t enough to be great at just one sporting discipline; competitors needed to increase their ability across all three components of the event to have a chance of winning. This was demonstrated when an Olympic-level cyclist lost to a strong swimmer despite his cycle ride time being amazing.

Richard Mallett

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The earliest triathlons soon showed that it wasn’t enough to be great at just one sporting discipline; competitors needed to increase their ability across all three components of the event to have a chance of winning. This was demonstrated when an Olympic-level cyclist lost to a strong swimmer despite his cycle ride time being amazing.

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