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Triathlon distances: IRONMAN, Olympic, sprint, super sprint & super league.

Triathlon is a mixture of three sports – swim, bike and run – and triathlon distances vary.

Shorter races can take less than an hour to complete, but events can take up to 17 hours and sometimes even longer.

In this guide we’ll have a look at the most common triathlon distances available. While it might make sense for beginners to start with the shorter distances and work their way up, that’s not everybody’s approach.

In theory, a triathlon can be completed over any distance. Some of the most iconic triathlon events in the world, such as the Alpe d’Huez Triathlon, have bespoke lengths. This is usually to fit the terrain the triathletes are racing – such as a huge mountain in South East France.

But standardised distances for events such as Ironman and the Olympics are more common. Most triathlons will try to align their own course lengths to these more familiar endurance tests.

While distance can be a good guide to see how challenging a race might be, it isn’t everything. It’s also worth looking at the course profile and the likely conditions you’ll face. For example, a 30km hilly bike ride in a hot and humid climate can often be a lot more taxing than 40km on smooth tarmac in a pleasant 20 degrees.

With all this in mind, let’s look at the most popular distances in turn – starting with the longest.

The behemoth of triathlon. Raced over a 2.4mile (3.8km) swim, 112mile (180km) bike and 26.2mile (42.2km) run, Ironman started on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1978, as a bet between swimmers, cyclists and runners to see who was fitter. It’s now become a global phenomenon with M-Dot events all over the world, and tattoos all over triathletes’ calves.

Ironman is a brand, but other independent companies put on iron distance (or full distance) events. The fastest times over this distance were both set at Challenge Roth in Germany. 8hr 18min 13 sec from Brit Chrissie Wellington in 2011, and 7hr 35min 39sec from Germany’s Jan Frodeno in 2016.

Despite its magnitude, Ironman isn’t actually the longest triathlon you’ll find. ‘Ultra’ triathlon distances include, double, triple and quad iron distance events, all the way up to a deca and even double deca – the latter being 20 iron distance races in 20 days or a continuous and mindboggling 48mile swim, 2,240mile cycle and 524mile run.