Olympic Games most furious events – Triathlon Mixed Relay?
The triathlon mixed relay will make its debut in Tokyo next year, but do you know what’s involved and why it promises to be a fascinating and frantic race to the finish?
On 31 July 2021, the triathlon mixed relay will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympic’s and the world will be able to watch one of the Games’ most furious events.
Ten teams will compete in the race with each one comprising of four athletes: two men and two women.
The race will go by in a flash – less than 90 minutes. It’s fast, it’s tactical and it’s exhausting.
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What is involved in mixed triathlon?
Each athlete will have to swim for 300m, cycle for 8km and run for 2km before tapping the hand of their teammate to pass the relay always in the order female-male-female-male.
The time of a race is usually less than 90 minutes, with each triathlete’s effort generally lasting around 20 minutes.
In triathlon the only relay that is competed at international level is mixed, and it’s success has paved the way for it to be a staple on the international sporting calendar.
When did the mixed relay in triathlon start?
This relatively new discipline began in 2009 when the first World Championships were held, and its level of popularity has only grown.
A year later the discipline made its debut at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
In 2014, the Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships were held in Hamburg for the first time. Ever since, the German city has played host to the annual event. In 2016, some 250,000 spectators lined the streets.
It will make its Summer Olympic Games debut next year at Tokyo.
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What’s new about the discipline?
Beyond bringing more equality to the most gender-balance Games in history – all sport will have both male and female events – the triathlon mixed relay will bring unity between male and female athletes.
To compensate for the different tactics involved, training strategies have been modified to fit in with the many challenges the new sport presents. The athletes need to be stronger and faster and will have to increase their power as the race distance is significantly shorter compared to an Olympic Triathlon.
Despite the order of athletes being fixed – female, male, female, male – the decision on where athlete fills these slots will be crucial.
Who to watch?
Mixed relay has been dominated by France over the past three years and last week in Hamburg, they secured their third consecutive world title – their fourth in six years.
France are expected to be among the favourites for Tokyo, and already have experience of winning in the city, having previously won the Olympic test event in 2019.
Alister Brownlee – along with his brother Jonny, himself an Olympic silver and bronze medallist – Great Britain will be among those targeting top spot on the podium. Or will this short distance suit the young British quartet of Georgia Taylor-Brown, Barclay Izzard, Jess Learmonth and Alex Yee who secured bronze at the Mixed Team Relay World Championships in Hamburg.
Of course, Team USA will also be one to watch as they finished second in the 2017 and 2020 World Championships, as well as third in 2018.
It promises to be a fascinating and frantic race to the finish.
