Triathlon's Media Madness

In partnership with

Good morning everyone,

During this year’s Summer Olympics the viewing experience was taken to the next level with the introduction of NBC’s “Gold Zone.” It was a specific channel in NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock, that would shuffle between different sports and would ensure viewers wouldn’t miss a single “golden moment.”

• It was the kind of innovation that felt perfect for the streaming era, and with a bunch of pro triathlon races all happening this weekend, I was longing for my own “Gold Zone” to follow the action.

With innovations like the “Gold Zone” it feels like certain entities are starting to crack the code on our current media consumption and environment. It’s a hope I have for the major triathlon entities, especially the one featured in our main story today.

In today’s edition:

• 📺 In search of an expanded audience, World Triathlon pushes to powerful platforms.

• 🏋️ How to train well in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and beyond!

• 🍌 And are “slow” carbs better for performance?

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

In Search of a Wider Audience World Triathlon Pushes to Platforms

What is it: This past weekend saw plenty of high-level global professional triathlon races in Beijing, Uzbekistan, and London. But one race in particular provided intrigue on and off the course.

• The World Triathlon World Cup in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, is one of the most brutal events on the World Triathlon calendar as it features a punishing climb on the bike that the athletes tackle up to seven times.

It’s an event that’s been a fixture on the World Triathlon circuit since 2008. And even more history was made this weekend as it became the first World Triathlon race to be broadcast live, and free, on the massive streaming platforms YouTube and Facebook.

Typically TriathlonLive: The usual streaming home of World Triathlon broadcasts including the flagship World Triathlon Championship Series, and second-tier World Cup events is World Triathlon’s own streaming platform; TriathlonLive.

• Along with live broadcasts of World Triathlon events, TriathlonLive also hosts an extensive archive of World Triathlon races. Live Supertri and XTERRA events are also available on the platform.

• An annual subscription to Triathlon Live costs USD $39.99, or can be purchased on a monthly basis for $11.99.

Acquiring audience: The decision to broadcast the World Cup race on two of the largest tech platforms reflects a shakeup in World Triathlon’s content and distribution strategy and the difficulty of audience-building in a fractured media environment.

• Ahead of the Paris Olympics, World Triathlon released their first-ever original streaming series “Dare to Dream.” The series follows top athletes in their bid for Olympic glory, and it was an opportunity for World Triathlon to build excitement and intrigue before the athletes hit the streets of Paris.

• It is unclear if these moves have been made to simply reach and engage a new audience for World Triathlon’s races. Or if they are hoping to drive new revenue via subscriptions to TriathlonLive.

Tempo’s take: The move to broadcast the race on Facebook and YouTube was definitely something that caught our eye.

• In a highly fractured media environment, the competition for attention is fierce. World Triathlon is not only competing with other triathlon entities for eyeballs, but every other major broadcaster, publisher, and millions of online creators (plus a plucky newsletter writer 😃).

However, in this environment World Triathlon does have an advantage. Live sports are proving to be a massive winner in the streaming era as games, matches and races are the last opportunities for high-value appointment viewing.

• But, the current product World Triathlon is offering is repetitive and needs to be reimagined for a modern audience. The sport has become a victim of its success as the athletes are now all so close in ability that most events come down to a run race.

If World Triathlon wants to make their races more exciting they will need to bring back unpredictability and intrigue to their events. This can be achieved by:

• Making the race fields smaller so that more gaps are created between groups on the bike.

• Bringing in innovative Supertri-inspired formats like the Enduro or the 2023 Hamburg Eliminator race.

World Triathlon could also blow up the traditional Olympic distance and instead have a race where each discipline covers roughly the same amount of time. I.e. a 1500m swim, 20km bike, and a 5km run. Imagine, after 50 minutes of intense and unpredictable racing, two groups of athletes converge on the blue carpet for a six-way sprint finish!

• Commercials could also be introduced, allowing for a higher revenue per broadcast.

Of course, it will take bold leadership to make the changes necessary for World Triathlon to survive in our hyper-competitive media environment. Maybe, one of these eight candidates, who will be elected as the World Triathlon President next month will be up to the challenge…

Cash In With INMO!

• Play exciting daily challenges to win cash!

• To enter, simply post a video or vote.

• Share with friends to increase winnings!

Download And Start Earning!

FAVORITES

🍌 Are slow carbs better? “Slow” carbohydrates like fructose and galactose have a moderate effect on blood glucose levels compared to “fast” ones like glucose and maltodextrin which cause rapid spikes. So will you perform better during training and racing while using slower-releasing carbs? The simple answer is here. [My Sports Science]

🏋️ Training as we age: As we age, the way we train changes due to many factors including changes within our bodies. This video does a great job explaining how training changes in our 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, and how you can optimize your training at any age! [GTN]

🥨 Electrolyte-rich foods: Electrolytes like sodium, magnesium, and potassium are critical for endurance performance and help with key functions like hydration balance and muscle contraction. Eating these electrolyte-rich foods will help you train and race at your best! [The Manual]

🕰️ Race start gap: “Transition is about to close!” But you still have a couple of hours until your wave starts! So how do you navigate a long gap between transition closing and your race start? Staying on top of your nutrition, and a few other key ways! [Triathlete]

REEL TIME

We need to know if any of our subscribers can do level three! 😮👏

ryan.triathlon

View more on Instagram

QUICK NEWS

Rest In Peace, Brownie: Michael Brown was a pillar of the Canadian triathlon community who was the race director and leader of iconic events including Challenge Penticton, The 2017 World Triathlon Multisport Championships, and the Great White North Triathlon. Sadly, days ago he passed away at the age of 51. He will be profoundly missed. [Kelowna Daily Courier]

Cyclist to triathlon: Professional cyclist Greg Van Avermaet won an Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. And in 2024 he finished 3rd in his age group at IRONMAN 70.3 Belgium. Surprisingly, he didn’t have the fastest bike split! [RTBF]

Bahraini bronze: Bahraini triathlete Omar Hamza claimed the bronze medal at the Syriatel Beach Games Triathlon in Tartus, Syria. [BNA]

Phenomenal paratriathlete: For paratriathlete Carson Clough, the journey from injury to the Paralympics wasn’t a long one. But a boating accident that changed his life in 2019 has led him to becoming a first-time Paralympic medalist. [Big Rapids News]

YOU SAID

Here’s what Tempo readers said about whether they are excited for the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice (they are!).

RACE WEEKEND

Supertri London

Georgia Taylor-Brown (Crown Racing) showed that she is the one to beat for the Supertri Championship after taking her second win in a row in London.

• Hayden Wilde (Crown Racing) also did the Chicago-London double and is in the drivers seat for the men’s Supertri crown.

London provided a big rankings shakeup as Crown Racing overtook Podium Racing for first place in the team competition. And Stars and Stripes Racing overtook Brownlee Racing for third place overall.

Full results

Challenge Samarkand

In a potential preview of the IRONMAN World Championships, Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) was able to take down countryman Gustav Iden.

• In the women’s race, Laura Madsen (DEN) continued her winning ways by taking a ten-minute victory over the next competitor!

Full results 

IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast

Milan Agnew (AUS) took her first professional long course win and Ben Hamilton (NZ) won the trans-Tasman battle.

Full results

World Triathlon World Cup Karlovy Vary

Maya Kingma (NED) continued her strong post-Olympic form with an exciting breakaway win in Karlovy Vary.

• John Reed (USA) showed why he is a serious contender for a medal at the 2028 Olympics as he overcame strong competition to take the World Cup win.

Full results

Challenge Beijing

Paula Findlay (CAN) and Kyle Smith (NZ) took home $20,000 first place paychecks at the inaugural, invite-only Challenge Beijing.

TEMPO EXCLUSIVE ARCHIVE

• Why you need to train faster (not harder!) - vol 3 

• After shocking deaths during races, how safe are triathlons?

• Are you making the four most common nutrition mistakes?

LATEST EDITIONS

• IRONMAN reveals stacked start list for Nice. Plus: why you need wider tires!

• Powerful Paralympic performances, and a next-level warmup drill.

• Should you take protein during training? And a Paralympic preview.