The ITU Executive Board has approved that the ITU Long Distance World Championships 2020, to be held during the Multisport World Championships in Almere, the Netherlands, will be held over the classic long distance 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run.
The ITU Sports and Operations team has reviewed on-site all the possible courses to guarantee a fair and safe competition venue for the race, and has decided to move on to the 3.8km-180km-42.2km distance, even though the next edition in 2021 will go back to the traditional ITU long distance: 3km swim, 120km cycle and 30km run.
ITU notes that it is making an exception accepting the 3.8km-180km-42.2km distance, instead of the regular ITU distance for the Long Distance World Championships used in the last three editions of the Multisport World Championships. ITU adds that ‘technical difficulties in the circuit in Almere made this the only possible option.’
The ITU Long Distance World Championship is the final event in a week of ITU World Championship Multisports, taking place between September 4-13, 2020 in Almere-Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The first International Triathlon Union (ITU) Multisport World Championships were held in Penticton (Canada) in 2017 to consolidate several world championship events including duathlon, aquabike, cross triathlon, aquathon and long-distance triathlon disciplines, with the second edition of the festival taking place last summer in Fyn (Denmark).
The 2019 event will be held in Pontevedra (Spain) in late April, and the 2020 event will be in the Dutch city of Almere.
The 2021 event will be held in Townsville, Australia, and will see five world championship disciplines contested, comprising various male and female race categories for elite, age group and para triathletes in August 2021.
