The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games triathlons will showcase the world’s best short-course racers on the grandest stage in sport – here’s everything you need to know.

For short course athletes, the Olympic Games Triathlon is the pinnacle of the sport. It represents the culmination of a four-year cycle – five in the case of this year’s Games – of battling to earn the chance to represent their country. From there, the hard work has just begun as these speed specialists go head-to-head in a pressure-cooker bid for glory and the opportunity to be honoured forever as an Olympic medallist.

Perhaps we’ll even get to see a new Olympic Champion who’ll follow in the footsteps of 2008 winner and PTO World #1 Jan Frodeno – taking short-course tri’s biggest accolade on the way to becoming the biggest force in long-course racing.

Triathlon Events At The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

As with each Olympics since triathlon’s introduction to the Games in 2000, we’ll have the men’s and women’s individual races to look forward to in Tokyo, both held over a 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run.

Triathlon fans will also have another opportunity to cheer on their country’s athletes thanks to Tokyo 2020’s inclusion of the first ever Olympic Mixed Relay event. This action-packed race follows the individual races and features four athletes per team. 

Racing in woman-man-woman-man order, each athlete will each complete a super-sprint race of 300m swim, 6.8km bike and 2km run before tagging in their country’s next competitor. Some countries have even picked their athletes specifically to target a medal in this event rather than going for individual glory.

When To Watch

The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games Triathlons take place on three dates within the first week of the Olympics. The men and women race on consecutive days – 26 and 27 July – with a few days’ rest before the first-ever Olympic Mixed Relay triathlon on 31 July.

Men’s race – Monday 26 July 2021 06:30 Tokyo

Women’s race – Tuesday 27 July 2021 06:30 Tokyo

Mixed relay – Saturday 31 July 2021 at 07:30 Tokyo

Get Involved With The PTO’s Tri Fantasy Game

To celebrate the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games triathlons, we’ve expanded our Tri Fantasy Game to get you even more invested in the outcome! Purely in the name of fun, you can put on your triathlon pundit’s hat and make your predictions for the Games to earn bragging rights with your friends.

Start by selecting a team of your top five men and women. You’ve got an imaginary budget of ¥350 to play with and different athletes warrant higher values. Once your 10 athletes are in your squad, it’s time to sit back and see how they do! The winner of each individual race will get 1500 points with points decreasing by 7.5% for every position after that. The more points you end up with, the higher your ranking will be.

To play, head to the Fantasy game now!

Olympic Triathlon Race Venue

Odaiba Park will host all three triathlon events as well as the paratriathlon competitions. With spectacular views of the city’s futuristic skyline across the stunning Rainbow Bridge, this small island – south of central Tokyo, between Koto City and Shinagawa City – could provide the most spectacular setting for an Olympic triathlon yet.

While the location provides a unique viewpoint of Tokyo, all eyes will be set firmly on thermometers in the days leading up to the events. The races have been moved earlier to help mitigate fallout from the heat but temperatures are still set to soar to over 30°C while the humidity and even the chance of thunderstorms will be on the athletes’ minds.

 

Olympic Triathlon Courses

Individual Olympic Triathlons

In the individual races, a pontoon start just off Odaiba Beach will kick things off. Start positions will be decided by a blind selection process that could have a real bearing on the swim as athletes thrash it out for pole position by the first buoy. The swim will consist of two laps – one 1000m and one 500m for 1500m total – each heading out into Tokyo Bay towards Bird Island.

Once out the water, athletes will grab their bikes from T1 in Seaside Park before taking on an eight-lap, 40km bike course through the West Promenade gardens up Wangan-doro Avenue and back past transition. While the elevation change hardly peaks at double digits, it’s certainly a technical course with over 10 90-degree corners and a pair of dead turns. This could favour a small breakaway with the space to take the turns at pace.

After T2 back at Seaside Park, it’s a 10km footrace over four 2.5km laps. Each virtually flat lap circles the park before taking athletes back to the edge of Tokyo Bay for the finishing straight that will crown this year’s Olympic medallists.

Mixed Relay

The Mixed Relay Triathlon features a more compact version of the individual course. The first athletes will begin on the pontoon with a 300m swim in the bay. Next is a two-lap 6.8km bike course that crosses the bridge towards Ariake Tennis Park. It’s another technical bike route with corners aplenty and three u-turns. Finally, there’s a 1km run around Odaiba Beach before handing over to the next athlete, who will perform a spectacular running dive into the water.

 

Athletes

55 women and men from 38 nations have qualified for the Olympic triathlon races. Australia, Great Britain, Italy and the USA have all qualified the maximum of three women while Australia, Spain, France and Norway each have three men racing. Only Australia has hit the ranking criteria to take six athletes to the Games. Egypt, Morocco and Romania will all be competing in the Olympic triathlon for the first time.

In the Mixed Relay event, 18 nations will line up, each with two men and two women – selected from the same pool as the individual races. However, the final start list, including the order of each team’s athletes, won’t be confirmed until two hours before the race.

 

 

Individual Men’s Start List

 

Start Num#	First Name	Last Name	YOB	Country
1	Tayler	Reid	1996	NZL
2	Hayden	Wilde	1997	NZL
3	Justus	Nieschlag	1992	GER
4	Jonas	Schomburg	1994	GER
5	Léo	Bergere	1996	FRA
6	Dorian	Coninx	1994	FRA
7	Vincent	Luis	1989	FRA
8	Dmitry	Polyanskiy	1986	ROC
9	Igor	Polyanskiy	1990	ROC
10	Jacob	Birtwhistle	1995	AUS
11	Matthew	Hauser	1998	AUS
12	Aaron	Royle	1990	AUS
14	Stefan	Zachäus	1990	LUX
15	Tyler	Mislawchuk	1994	CAN
16	Matthew	Sharpe	1991	CAN
17	Russell	White	1992	IRL
18	Bence	Bicsák	1995	HUN
19	Tamás	Tóth	1989	HUN
20	Fernando	Alarza	1991	ESP
21	Javier	Gomez Noya	1983	ESP
22	Mario	Mola	1990	ESP
23	Felix	Duchampt	1989	ROU
24	Joao	Pereira	1987	POR
25	Joao	Silva	1989	POR
26	Jelle	Geens	1993	BEL
27	Marten	Van Riel	1992	BEL
28	Lukas	Hollaus	1986	AUT
29	Alois	Knabl	1992	AUT
30	Kenji	Nener	1993	JPN
31	Makoto	Odakura	1993	JPN
32	Mehdi	Essadiq	1986	MAR
33	Rostislav	Pevtsov	1987	AZE
34	Manoel	Messias	1996	BRA
35	Gianluca	Pozzatti	1993	ITA
36	Delian	Stateff	1994	ITA
37	Ran	Sagiv	1997	ISR
38	Shachar	Sagiv	1994	ISR
39	Diego	Moya	1998	CHI
40	Crisanto	Grajales	1987	MEX
41	Irving	Perez	1986	MEX
42	Mohamad	Maso	1993	SYR
43	Kristian	Blummenfelt	1994	NOR
44	Gustav	Iden	1996	NOR
45	Casper	Stornes	1997	NOR
46	Andrea	Salvisberg	1989	SUI
47	Max	Studer	1996	SUI
48	Marco	Van Der Stel	1991	NED
49	Jorik	Van Egdom	1995	NED
50	Richard	Murray	1989	RSA
51	Henri	Schoeman	1991	RSA
52	Kevin	McDowell	1992	USA
53	Morgan	Pearson	1993	USA
54	Jonathan	Brownlee	1990	GBR
55	Alex	Yee	1998	GBR
56	Oscar	Coggins	1999	HKG

 

Individual Women’s Start List

 

Start Num#	First Name	Last Name	YOB	Country
1	Maya	Kingma	1995	NED
2	Rachel	Klamer	1990	NED
3	Vendula	Frintova	1983	CZE
4	Petra	Kurikova	1991	CZE
5	Cecilia	Perez	1991	MEX
6	Claudia	Rivas	1989	MEX
7	Simone	Ackermann	1990	RSA
8	Gillian	Sanders	1981	RSA
9	Anabel	Knoll	1996	GER
10	Laura	Lindemann	1996	GER
11	Taylor	Knibb	1998	USA
12	Summer	Rappaport	1991	USA
14	Katie	Zaferes	1989	USA
15	Miriam	Casillas García	1992	ESP
16	Anna	Godoy Contreras	1992	ESP
17	Basmla	Elsalamoney	1999	EGY
18	Joanna	Brown	1992	CAN
19	Amelie	Kretz	1993	CAN
20	Ashleigh	Gentle	1991	AUS
21	Jaz	Hedgeland	1995	AUS
22	Emma	Jeffcoat	1994	AUS
23	Barbara	Riveros	1987	CHI
24	Romina	Biagioli	1989	ARG
25	Jolanda	Annen	1992	SUI
26	Nicola	Spirig	1982	SUI
27	Zsanett	Bragmayer	1994	HUN
28	Zsófia	Kovács	1988	HUN
29	Flora	Duffy	1987	BER
30	Cassandre	Beaugrand	1997	FRA
31	Leonie	Periault	1994	FRA
32	Vicky	Holland	1986	GBR
33	Jessica	Learmonth	1988	GBR
34	Georgia	Taylor-Brown	1994	GBR
35	Mengying	Zhong	1990	CHN
36	Kaidi	Kivioja	1993	EST
37	Julia	Hauser	1994	AUT
38	Lisa	Perterer	1991	AUT
39	Yuliya	Yelistratova	1988	UKR
40	Carolyn	Hayes	1988	IRL
41	Melanie	Santos	1995	POR
42	Anastasia	Gorbunova	1994	ROC
43	Alexandra	Razarenova	1990	ROC
44	Elizabeth	Bravo	1987	ECU
45	Luisa	Baptista	1994	BRA
46	Vittoria	Lopes	1996	BRA
47	Niina	Kishimoto	1995	JPN
48	Yuko	Takahashi	1991	JPN
49	Ainsley	Thorpe	1998	NZL
50	Nicole	Van Der Kaay	1996	NZL
51	Lotte	Miller	1996	NOR
52	Valerie	Barthelemy	1991	BEL
53	Claire	Michel	1988	BEL
54	Alice	Betto	1987	ITA
55	Angelica	Olmo	1996	ITA
56	Verena	Steinhauser	1994	ITA

 

 

Mixed Relay Country List

 

Start Num#	Team	Country
1	Team France	FRA
2	Team Australia	AUS
3	Team United States	USA
4	Team Great Britain	GBR
5	Team New Zealand	NZL
6	Team Germany	GER
7	Team Netherlands	NED
8	Team Belgium	BEL
9	Team Switzerland	SUI
10	Team Italy	ITA
11	Team Canada	CAN
12	Team Japan	JPN
14	Team Spain	ESP
15	Team Hungary	HUN
16	Team Mexico	MEX
17	Team South Africa	RSA
18	Team Russian Olympic Committee	ROC
19	Team Austria	AUT

 

How To Watch

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic triathlons will be broadcast all around the world. Here’s a lowdown of all the global carriers so you can make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action.

ARGENTINA: TYC Sports

AUSTRALIA: Seven Network

AUSTRIA: ORF

BELGIUM: VRT & RTBF

BRASIL: Grupo Globo & BandSports

CANADA: CBC/Radio-Canada; Sportsnet; TSN & TLN

CHILE: TVN

CHINA: CCTV & MIGU

CZECH REPUBLIC: ČT

ECUADOR: RTS

ESTONIA: Postimees Group

ALL EUROPE: Discovery, Inc – Eurosport

FRANCE: France Télévisions & Eurosport

GERMANY: ARD & ZDF

HUNGARY: MTVA

HONG KONG: I-CABLE; PCCW & TVB

IRELAND: RTÉ

ITALY: RAI

JAPAN: Japan Consortium

LUXEMBURG: RTL

MEXICO: Televisa; TV Azteca & Imagen Televisión

NETHERLANDS: NOS

PORTUGAL: RTP

ROMANIA: TVR

SLOVENIA: RTV

SPAIN: RTVE & EUROSPORT

SOUTH AFRICA: SABC & SuperSport

SWITZERLAND: SRG & SSR

UK: BBC & Eurosport

USA: NBCUNIVERSAL