Olympics: Frodeno Triumph Shows Triathlon's Time Has Come

Tomorrow morning, in press conference room five at the Olympic media center, triathlon will take a shot at the mainstream. And you know what? It might just make it.

I say this having just watched a thrilling men's race, full of guts and bold attacks, narrative and uncertainty. The lead changed hands more than a dozen times, and four triathletes were still squabbling over the lead with 250m to go, before Germany's Jan Frodeno sprinted to gold.

The organizers had been clever, of course, like they have been for much of these Games. The specially-built course was hilly and technical enough to test the athletes, but - unlike in many triathlons - the short laps also ensured the triathletes were under our noses every 10 minutes or so.

And so we were able to see Tim Don, the world champion in 2006 and so confident of a medal this time round, twitching his head from side to side on the bike, trying to fathom why the virus that caused eruptions in his stomach had struck here, of all places. And also marvel at the tykeish confidence of Alistair Brownlee, a 20-year-old from Leeds who, having failed to break away on the 40km ride, attacked and led on the 10km run before his legs turned to rubber with 3km to go.

It made for a perfect advert for the sport, and momentum for tomorrow's announcement of a new super series, part of what the International Triathlon Union promises will be a "worldwide shake-up". When I spoke to him earlier Brian Mahony, the ITU's director of media, was keeping his cards close to his chest. But he did confirm there would be a series of races in the world's major cities, with enough money to persuade the best athletes to compete and competitions for amateurs and newcomers too. "We have several TV companies on board," he added.

For triathlon to push on, it will have to get two things right. First, it will have to make us care about the people and pictures we see on our screens. That should not be difficult: in Britain alone there are many triathletes with interesting back stories, from Hollie Avil, who spent this year getting up at 4.30am so she could train for an Olympics and complete her A-Levels, to Olly Freeman, who gave up a place at Cambridge University to train for London 2012.

A second, harder task, is to entertain mainstream TV audiences. The swim, for instance, is a turbulent thrash of limbs and backwash, like remedial class in the pool, and almost impossible to follow. So why not attach waterproof GPS chips to everyone's swim cap to allow their positions to be tracked on TV? You could also put cameras on competitors' bikes, and transmitters in their heart rate monitors, to see how much the triathletes suffer.

Certainly if formula one can sustain people's interest over a two-hour stretch then triathlon can too. Intriguingly, when I put some of these suggestions to Mahony, he replied: "We're way ahead of you - we're going to do all that and much more."

Will they succeed? Until we know more, your guess is as good as mine. But the trends are going the right way. Until 1989 triathlon had no world governing body, yet five years later it was awarded Olympic status. It is the fastest-growing sport in the UK, with an ever-increasing swell of people challenging themselves to do anything from super sprints (400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run) to ironmans (3.8km swim, 180km bike and, for good measure, a marathon).

There's a kinetic energy, a momentum that's pushing triathlon onwards and upwards, and a thriving online community too. But, more essential still, the sport is cool. Tell anyone you're doing a marathon and they'll be impressed, tell anyone you're doing a triathlon and they'll be intrigued. Enough to make them turn on their TVs? We'll find out soon enough.