TRIATHLON RACE DISTANCES

The table below shows the types and approximate distances of typical triathlon events. There are races that don’t fall neatly into these categories, for example the Alpe d’Huez Long Course Triathlon, which is a 2.2km swim, 115km cycle and a 22km run, or the ITU Long Distance World Championship. There are also ultra-triathlons that exceed the Ironman distance, and indoor triathlons of varying lengths that are done in a pool, on a stationary bike and a treadmill, as well as other, non-triathlon multisport races such as aquathlons (swim/run) and duathlons (run/bike/run). Sprint and Olympic distance are often called “short course” races and half Ironman and Ironman are often described as “long course” events.

TYPICAL TRIATHLON DISTANCES

RACE TYPE: Super-sprint

SWIM: 400m

BIKE: 10km

RUN: 2.5km

RACE TYPE: Sprint

SWIM: 750m

BIKE: 20km

RUN: 5km

RACE TYPE: Olympic or standard distance

SWIM: 1.5km

BIKE: 40km

RUN: 10km

RACE TYPE: Half Ironman (or 70.3)

SWIM: 1.9km

BIKE: 90km

RUN: 21.1km (half marathon)

RACE TYPE: Ironman (also called Iron-distance or Ironman distance)

SWIM: 3.8km

BIKE: 180km

RUN: 42.2km (marathon)

The start line at the Ironman World Championship.