How Long is a Triathlon

I am always left dumbstruck whenever I see athletes doing their stints in the athletic events, whether it is the Olympics, the commonwealth games, or other individual sporting, even championships. These athletes have an amazing stamina, and it never lets them down in any sporting event - running, sprinting, obstacle race, relay race, triathlon and so on. I can safely say and I guess even the readers would agree, that it is nothing but awe inspiring when these athletes perform, especially in a triathlon.

Now a triathlon, as the name suggests is an event which consists of three sporting events, asking for a lot of endurance, fitness and stamina. It includes cycling, swimming, running and cycling. This is done in succession and over different distances. The one who completes all these three, the first including the changeover time, is the winner. But the overall duration of a triathlon differs according to the type of triathlon it is, and the three main types of triathlons are Olympic, Sprint and Ironman. International Triathlon Union (ITU) and World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) are the two major governing bodies for triathlon events all over the world and in varying distances. But the 3 Triathlon types mentioned above are considered to be standard. By checking these three in detail we will get a better idea of how long a triathlon is. That is important, as the type of triathlon also determines the training for a triathlon.

Triathlon Variations and their Duration

Olympic Triathlon
The Olympic triathlon is characterized by 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running. Another name for this is international distance or standard course or short course.

Sprint Triathlon
Beginning with a 750 meter swim, a sprint triathlon includes a 20 km cycling, followed by a 5 km run. However, the swimming distance may vary here. There is another type of sprint, which is the super sprint, which has even lesser distances in each of the three events.

Ironman Triathlon
This is also called the long distance triathlon or a long course triathlon and is sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union. It is organized by the WTC As the name goes, it surely needs an extremely fit and strong athlete to carve a niche in this type of long triathlon. It is a task which can be accomplished by nothing less than an ironman, literally speaking. In an ironman triathlon, if it's a full triathlon, there is a 3.8 km swimming stretch, succeeded by 180 km of cycling and ends with a 42.2 km stretch of running, which is a marathon standard. If it is a half, then all the distances - swimming, cycling and running are reduced to half. That is also called half Ironman. However, the most prestigious ironman triathlon is the 'Ironman Hawaii'. It is like one of the most incredible Ironman championship, which includes 3.86 km swimming, 185.07 km cycling and a Honolulu Marathon.

Variations
There are few other longer triathlons sponsored by the ITU which are longer than the standard course. There is a triathlon called double Olympic, which has a 3 km swimming, cycling for 80 km and running for 20 km. This is also termed as O2 or long distance. Triple Olympic is another type of triathlon, called O3, which is 4.5 km swimming, 120 km bike ride and running for 30 km. The shorter triathlons are for novices and young athletes, which is another variation.

That was all about the different types of triathlon and how long they last. So long for now!