An Athlete’s Perspective on 2022 World Triathlon Rules

World Triathlon recently announced numerous new rules and formats that will impact racing. While it might make your head spin, I’m certain it’s better than a sport stuck in history. Here’s the four biggest changes as I see them.

New Eliminator Format

Yes, I know the eliminator format was added last year, but I think it’s an interesting subject and still very new so I’ve included it in my list. World Triathlon introduced the two-day format of super sprint rounds that slowly eliminates athletes at 2021 WTCS Montreal. I raced Montreal, and having never participated in the similar Super League events, it was my first time competing across that format. Each round was made up of a 300m swim, 7.2km bike, and 2km run. I was absolutely shocked by how difficult I found the race. It’s still a triathlon, but the emphasis on getting out ahead of 30 other girls in a 300m swim, getting through T2 first if the bike groups up, or sprinting to the finish of a 2k felt surprisingly different from other races and to be honest doesn’t come naturally for me. With that many people on such a short course, the requirements are very different even from racing the first leg of a mixed relay, in my opinion.

After Montreal, I’m sure you saw athletes voicing mixed feelings on the format being included in WTCS. I’ll admit I prefer longer distances, but at the same time the rounds were addicting. It felt like a very painful game of tactics and eliminating mistakes. I remember standing on shaky legs, having just sprinted in from the last 2k, trying not to fall over while the pontoon bounced on the water. I believe I was lined up between Lehair from France and Knoll from Germany. We were bracing each other from falling off the pontoon while sharing words that could be boiled down to “How are we already going again, can we really do this?!” At another point, I rode up to the dismount line only to find that with everything going on I’d forgotten to take my feet out of my cycling shoes.

My understanding is the long term goal is to have more triathlon medal opportunities at the Olympics. To make that happen we need more formats. I can full-heartedly get behind that goal. I think the eliminator format is a solid new option as well. Given my one experience, I would however hope that World Triathlon will be picky about where they allow eliminator formats to be held. I would want locations with less turns in the swim, short transitions, and wide roads for a start. Maybe they will even have to build the roads to make that happen. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve showed up to a race just days ahead of time to see crews out laying the concrete for our course. Thinking ahead, how neat would it be if the future of short-course racing has athletes who specialize in specific distances/formats.

However, we are currently a long way from that. For now, myself and the others are in the position of choosing where to focus our training and hoping we get fast enough at swimming, biking, and running to excel no matter the distance. And that’s ok, triathletes are exceedingly tough and we can handle the challenge. That being said, having started the sport watching Olympic distance races and looking up to those athletes (back in 2016 the WTCS series didn’t even include sprints), I am happy to see that for now Olympic distance races still appear to be valued the most. World Triathlon announced that Eliminator formats will have reduced points available in 2022 compared to Olympic distance races, while sprint distance still carries the least points.

New Arena Games Format

I guess we are on the one new race format per year trajectory. I have to say the eliminator format makes far more sense to me than this newest addition, the Arena Games. World Triathlon is partnering with Super League to put on these races which will now have World Triathlon points available. The full rules have yet to be announced, but it appears that they will be similar to what Super League was already doing using a swimming pool and Zwift for the bike and run. There will be two “series” races with 250 points (same as a Continental Cup) and one “finals” race with 500 points (same as a World Cup!). I was curious what you all might think, but as of writing this I haven’t seen a mention of it on the forums.

I’m all for having more Olympic medal opportunities in triathlon and introducing something like the eliminator format to make that happen, but I must be missing the long term plan for Arena Games. We all have power meters on our real-life bikes if more data is the concern. Also, more events could have stands with a large screen showing the entire race if walking distances for viewing is the concern. Do we really care about having esports fans in triathlon? I’m skeptical. I thought Super League’s use of Arena Games to provide a race early in COVID was fine. If a stand-alone series like that wants to continue hosting any format of triathlon, then it is their decision.

However, I’m getting hung up on having it incorporated into the World Triathlon Series. The difference between pool swimming and open water swimming is very noticeable for some athletes. More importantly, having a computer control how an avatar moves in relation to other avatars on a screen takes away most of the skill of racing and is quite possibly just not that accurate anyways. I imagine some athletes will see it as a risk-free way to grab points with zero chance of flats, mechanicals, and probably no silly mistakes that cost time in the real world. Will we be calling this year’s winner of the esports world title a world champion?

Mixed Relays Now Man-Woman-Man-Woman

Wow, how cool is this?! Thank you to everyone who has shown their support and wants to see women finishing off the race. Not to be biased, but I think it’s a good move for a sport that has been so gender-equal from inception. I do think it will be a noticeable change too. There've been a couple guys that were almost always finishing off the relays from top countries and that will all be different now. I also think it gives the woman a chance to stand out more with two time-trial style legs. I expect our US team will do great given our depth. We have a number of people with various skill sets to choose from for each leg. I’m also personally excited about the challenge of racing 2nd or 4th leg. I’ll be crossing my fingers for a chance to race the relay again this year.

Clip-On Bars Banned Starting in 2023

This news, of course, comes right after many countries went to lengths designing the best clip-on aero bar ahead of the Olympics. I’d previously heard rumors they would be banned for individual events but allowed for mixed relays. However, it looks like World Triathlon is simply banning them altogether. The decision must be a safety one. I’ve never used clip-on aero bars and am content to not be at risk for a crash due to another athlete improperly using them. That being said, I don’t actually know of any scenario where that happened or caused a crash. My reasons for not using clip-on aero bars boiled down to not having the opportunity to test them in labs. I think using them effectively is a larger process than slapping any bar on any bike. I’ve briefly tried a couple pairs and found them uncomfortable and unstable. I also really hated not being able to ride on the top of my handlebars for everyday training.

So if I was going to have the extra weight and reduced aerodynamics when not using them, I’d want to be absolutely certain it was worth the times when I was using them. I would’ve wanted testing to know that I was significantly more aerodynamic than just crouching down over my bike. Then possibly more important, know I was comfortable enough to put out the same power and get off ready to run. In my first years racing at lower levels, I rode away solo a couple times and it might have been worth having aero bars. The more I’ve moved up though, I have found myself within a pack for the majority of races and also spending less time pulling. So while they make complete sense for someone like Taylor Knibb, I wouldn’t be using them for a significant enough period of time to not just crouch down here and there. Funny enough, I actually might have tried to get them on my bike this year with the announcement that women will now be racing the 2nd and 4th relay legs. At this point, I’ll likely just wait it out another year. On the off chance you do catch me racing with aero bars this year, go ahead and laugh at me for saying that. More likely you’ll catch me riding alone in a relay wishing that I’d spent the countless hours setting them up just for those ten minutes of riding.

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