What’s the shortest triathlon?
If you want to give triathlon a go, but worried about your fitness, the super-sprint or 'starter' triathlon is the shortest recognised distance, but there are other options as well says Matt Baird.
The shortest form of triathlon at an event is generally the super-sprint distance triathlon or what can be called the ‘Starter Triathlon’.
- Why you should do a triathlon
- What are the different triathlon distances?
- How fit do you have to be to do a triathlon?
Held at a wide number of beginner-friendly races, a super-sprint triathlon involves the following:
Swim: 400m
Bike: 10km
Run: 2.5km
You can also find Try-a-Tri/Starter Tri races, often with an open-water swim at the start of the race. At the Castle Triathlon Series events, for example, the Starter Tri consists of:
Swim: 200m
Bike: 15km
Run: 2km
There are, however, triathlons that can be shorter than the above distances, including the nationwide GoTri events created by British Triathlon. These will invariably start with a pool swim and an example format is:
Swim: 100m (four lengths of the pool)
Bike: 5km
Run: 1km
If you want to increase your race distance from the above formats, the next challenge would be the sprint-distance triathlon. These involve the below distances and often include an open-water swim at the beginning of the race instead of a pool swim.
Swim: 750m
Bike: 20km
Run: 5km
- How to train for your first sprint-distance triathlon
- Sprint & super-sprint triathlons: 14 of the UK’s best for beginners
More advice for beginner triathletes
- What’s a good triathlon time?
- What muscles do you use in triathlon?
- What does ‘economy’ mean when triathlon training?
- How to train for your first triathlon
- 15 training tips for the beginner triathlete
- 8 lessons I learnt from my first triathlon
220 Triathlon Team
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