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Multisport World Championship Host Cities Announced

Multisport World Championship Host Cities Announced

Multisport world championships, a fueling guide for training, and heart rate variability

Matthew Sharpe
December 08, 2023

Good morning everyone,

A quick favor to ask. A few months ago we launched our membership program. With the year coming to a close, we’re preparing for 2024 with some big plans to expand our triathlon coverage.

But to do that, we need your help. We’re looking for 25 more members to join as Tempo Plus members. You get some amazing perks, like exclusive interviews with some of the top experts in the sport, the ability to ask questions of them and a soon-to-be-launched members community.

To sweeten the deal, we’re dropping our members fee to only $99 a year. And until the end of the year, you get it for $75 a year, a 25% discount on the normal price.

In today’s edition:

🎪 Multisport World Championship host cities announced.
🍌 A step-by-step guide to fueling your training.
💗 And why you need to know about heart rate variability

Thanks for being here.

-Matt Sharpe, newsletter editor

Have a triathlete in your life who can't stop swimming, biking, or running? Fire this off to them. Forwarded from a friend? Sign-up for free.

ONE BIG THING

Host Cities Announced for Dynamic Multisport Festivals

What is it: World Triathlon has announced that Abu Dhabi will host the 2026 edition of the World Triathlon Multisport World Championships (MSWC).

They also announced that Edmonton, Canada will host the championships in 2027.

Background: First contested in 2017 in Penticton, Canada, the Multisport World Championships was created to bring many standalone triathlon and triathlon-adjacent events into one global multisport festival.

The first iteration featured many events similar to popular race formats like Ironman and Xterra, but with World Triathlon’s unique spin:

Long-distance triathlon (3km swim, 120km bike, 30km run)
Cross (offroad) triathlon (1km swim, 20km bike, 6km run)
Aquathlon (1km swim, 5km run)
Standard Duathlon (10km run, 40km bike, 5 km run)

The Penticton Championships also included the unexpectedly popular Aquabike event which consists of a swim and bike, as well as full inclusion of para-triathletes for most events.

Canadian long course star Lionel Sanders played the home crowd hero as he became the long-distance world champion.

Evolution: Although the pandemic disrupted the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Championships, the event has since found its footing and has become a crown jewel in World Triathlon’s portfolio of events.

The 2023 edition of the event, hosted in Ibiza, Spain featured over 3,000 athletes, and along with the events listed above also included a Cross Duathlon.
The event also made history as it was held alongside the first-ever PTO European Open, which created an incredible atmosphere for the elites and fans.

Australia incoming: In August 2024, Townsville, Australia will host the MSWC which will be the first time the event will be held in the southern hemisphere. The usual events will be included with the addition of a 2×2 Duathlon mixed relay (1.7k run, 6.8km bike, 850m run) which should be incredibly fast and furious.

Tempo’s take: I have a lot of love for the Multisport World Championships, although I might be a bit biased…

The idea of having loads of events together, with athletes from around the world helps make this event worth way more than the sum of it’s parts.

And of course one of the beautiful aspects of this event is the ability to compete in multiple events throughout the festival. Want to do an Aquathlon warmup before your long-distance A race? Why not? Or maybe you’re a Duathlon Queen and you’re going for the standard and cross-duathlon events.

Looking ahead: It will be interesting to see how this event continues to evolve and grow in the next few years. Maybe add more events tailored to the host city.

Abu Dhabi - which typically incorporates their F1 track - could have an F1-style bike/run where the athletes have to change their wheels in the pits.
And well, depending on the time of year Edmonton can be…snowy ☃️. So maybe have a Fatbike race followed by a snowball fight could be in the cards!

Have you ever competed in a Multisport Championships?

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FAVORITES

🍌 Step-by-step nutrition: Sometimes it’s nice to have other people think for you. Case in point - this awesome step-by-step daily triathlon training nutrition guide. Our favourite part? The four eating principles. [Taren’s Mottiv Method]

🌴 Level up your swim, bike, and run with some of the best coaches and pro triathletes in beautiful Cozumel, Mexico! The Real Triathlon Squad January training camp is filling up fast, so email [email protected] for access to incredible early-bird pricing!*

💗 Performance metric: Heart rate variability is definitely trending. But what is it? And what does it mean for triathletes? This thread explains. [Alan Couzens]

🚲 Tri bike hack: Triathlon bikes are fast, but do you really need to buy an entirely new bike? Or will a road bike with aerobars do the job? According to this Reddit thread, probably! [Reddit]

💰 Drills pay the bills: Running drills can help strengthen your muscles and joints, improve balance, and so much more! So here are eight powerful running drills to help improve your speed and running form. [Marathon Handbook]

🚨 FOMO alert: What has sweet camping vibes, insight on how to return from injury, and a behind-the-scenes look at how a world class pro approaches racing? The latest episode from TTL. [That Triathlon Life]

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REEL TIME

A great primer on how to rotate properly while swimming.

effortlessswimming
View more on Instagram

QUICK NEWS

Namibian success: A record 500 athletes participated in this year’s FNB Sandman Triathlon, one of Namibia’s largest. [Namibian]

Goaing to jail: Organizers of Ironman 70.3 Goa have been booked and are being investigated by police after a participant died 500m before the finish line at last month’s race. [India Express]

New school: Chicago State University is the latest addition to the Women’s NCAA Triathlon field. They will begin competing next year. [Courier Mail]

Xterra youth: Xterra is looking to expand its youth offering with the inaugural Xterra youth tour. The tour will connect 40 races across the globe and be contested over sprint and super-sprint distances. [Endurance.biz]

WHAT YOU SAID

We asked readers if they thought the permit for the Malibu triathlon race should be awarded to Super League, after it was reported that the previous owner might be receiving the only permit in the city after he sold the race to Super League.

Over 150 of you thought it was “shady as hell” that the Malibu Triathlon’s former owner sold his race to Super League then turned around and snaked the only triathlon permit from them.

Reader: Have raced the race many times and will not be participating if the permit is reissued to ME!

Reader: I love Super League but this could be a blessing in disguise. In 2023 the City of Malibu proved almost impossible to work with. Perhaps Super League is better off moving their event to a town where they are actually wanted. May I suggest Santa Monica?? With the beach and the pier. It would be like 70.3 Santa Cruz. Which we all know is an awesome race.

Reader: I hope that when Super League bought the triathlon from Epstein they had him sign a non compete agreement which is pretty standard in this situation. They usually last 5 to 6 years and will give them legal recourse. This type of thing is a terrible business practice and the city of Malibu should think twice about working with someone who would conduct themselves in this way.

Reader: If that's the narrative, Selling the race, then trying to destroy it, that's shady as hell.- However, I'd like to hear both sides of the story. Did Epstein sell the race and agreed to collaborate with SLT to be a co-race director in coming years? Was there a non compete agreement?

Reader: Selling a race for commercial gain should come with some non compete clauses surely. Malibu City Council will ensure that they will struggle to find long term investors in local events if they choose not to respect the integrity of the previous arrangement.

WEEKEND RACES

Ironman 70.3 Bahrain

Women’s race: A very competitive women’s race features top ranked athletes like Kat Matthews (GBR), Amelia Watkinson (NZ), India Lee (GBR) and Ellie Salthouse (AUS).

But there are a few key wildcards including star swimmer Lucy Buckingham (GBR) and Anne Holm (DEN) who will be pushing the pace from the front.
The way this race could play out could easily end of being an incredible sprint finish.

Men’s race: Double Olympic gold-medalist Alistair Brownlee (GBR) appears to be healthy and so immediately becomes a fovourtie for the win. But look out for Martin van Riel (BEL), and Kacper Stepniak (POL) who has been on quite the tear recently.

Full start lists

Ironman 70.3 Taupo, New Zealand

Women’s race: The women will be ripping up next year’s 70.3 World Championship course, and no doubt we’ll see Rebecca Clarke (NZ) and Lotte Wilms (NED) pushing the pace from the gun.

Hannah Berry (NZ) and Samantha Kingsford (NZ) will also be amongst the podium pursuit.

Men’s race: Whenever Olympic medalist and former 70.3 World Champion Javier Gomez (ESP) is on the start line its going to be full gas. Braden Currie (NZ) should be his closest threat, but if super runner Jack Moody (NZ) is within striking distnace he could sneak in for the upset win.