Overview
The triathlon is a single race that combines three elements: a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run (in that order). Athlete stamina is tested to the max — there are no breaks between each section. Also, unlike many other running, swimming and cycling events, there are no heats — only one final (women's and men's).
A total of 110 athletes (55 men, 55 women) compete in the three events.
Events
There are three triathlon events at the 2024 Paris Games:
- Men's individual race (Wednesday, July 31)
- Women's individual race (Wednesday, July 31)
- Mixed team relay event (Monday, August 5)
The mixed team relay event debuted at the Tokyo Games and returns in Paris. Relay teams consist of four athletes (two men, two women) who race in this order: female-male-female-male. Each competitor completes a 300m swim, 6.8km cycle and 2km run before tagging their next teammate, who then initiates their portion of the race.
Venue
All three triathlons will be staged in the heart of Paris, with the famed Pont Alexandre III bridge and the River Seine serving as the location for the 1500m swimming stage of the race.
Athletes to Watch
The current gold medal favorite on the men's side is Great Britain's Alex Yee, who earned an individual silver and a mixed team relay gold in Tokyo. Yee cruised through the 2023 season, winning two World Triathlon Championship (WTCS) events and the Paris Test Event. Host nation France also boasts gold medal contenders: 2023 world champion Dorian Coninx and 2022 world champion Leo Bergere. Coninx finished third and Bergere fifth at the Paris Test Event. In Tokyo, Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt won gold with a time of 1:45:04. The 29-year-old trudged through the 2023 season with sickness but will surely contend for a medal in Paris.
For the women, Tokyo gold medal winner Flora Duffy (Bermuda) and two-time Olympic medalist Georgia Taylor-Brown (Great Britain) are names to watch. Both battled injuries throughout 2023, which opens the field to newcomers like Great Britain's Beth Potter, the 2023 world champion who also won the Paris Test Event in August. Both Cassandre Beaugrand and Emma Lombardi from host France will challenge the top tier. For the U.S., Taylor Knibb represents the nation's best chance for a triathlon medal. Renowned as an elite cyclist, Knibb finished fifth at the Paris Test Event.
In the Mixed Team Relay, France seems to boast the deepest squad and could contend for gold after taking bronze in Tokyo. Great Britain, the defending Olympic champions, will also figure to medal, featuring the star power of Yee and Potter. The U.S. struggled during the 2023 season but top athletes like Knibb and Taylor Spivey will look to propel the Americans to the medal podium.
| Date | Event | Time (ET) |
| July 31 | Women's Individual | 2-2:05a |
| July 31 | Men's Individual | 4:45-6:05a |
| August 5 | Mixed Relay | 2a-4:10a |
Team USA: Olympic triathletes to watch
Seth Rider, Morgan Pearson, Taylor Spivey, Kirsten Kasper and Taylor Knibb represent the U.S. contingent bound for Paris in the triathlon.
Knibb and Pearson qualified for Paris by finishing in the top eight at the Olympic test event in Paris last August. Spivey, Kasper and Rider were selected by a USA Triathlon committee.
Knibb currently ranks second in the world, while Spivey is sixth and Kasper is 11th. Knibb, 26, will actually compete in two sports: triathlon and road cycling. Her plan is to race the cycling time trial (July 27) and then two triathlons — both the individual event (July 31) and the mixed team relay (Aug. 5) — in a span of just nine days.
Both Knibb and Pearson were part of the U.S. mixed relay team that earned a silver at the Tokyo Games.