How Long is a Triathlon

Just how long is a triathlon? It depends on which one you've entered. There are three standard triathlon lengths, perfect for beginners, journeymen and experts.

Olympic distance triathlons, also known as standard course, are one of the more popular distances. An Olympic distance triathlon includes a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run.

The Ironman is the most challenging of the triathlons with a 2.4 mile swim (3.86 km), a 112 mile bike ride (180.25 km) and a full marathon - 26.2 miles (or 42.195 km). Only triathlons sanctioned by the World Triathlon Corporation may be officially considered "ironman" triathlons. The crown jewel of ironman triathlons is the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon held in Kona, HI. However, this is not recognized by the International Triathlon Union (ITU), which generally concentrates on shorter triathlons.

The ITU does sponsor a couple of longer triathlons than the standard course though, with a triathlon known as a Long Distance (O2) or Double Olympic. This has a 3 km swim, an 80 km bike ride and a 20 km run. Another challenging triathlon sanctioned by the ITU is the Long Distance (O3), or a triple Olympic Distance. This, as you could compute, consists of a 4 km swim, a 120 km bike ride and a 30 km run.

Other triathlon distances include the sprint, which includes a 750 m swim, a 20 km bike ride and a 5 km run. The super sprint is roughly half the distance of the sprint triathlon with a 400 m swim, a 10 km bike ride and a 2.5 km run.

The half triathlon or half-ironman involves a 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bike ride and a 21.09 km run.

There are still other triathlon distances, which are determined by the organization running the race. To be sanctioned by the ITU, that distance must be within 5% of one of their approved distances. Otherwise it is considered an independent triathlon.