Published in

MDPI, Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 2(7), p. 46, 2022

DOI: 10.3390/jfmk7020046

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

How to Form a Successful Team for the Novel Olympic Triathlon Discipline: The Mixed-Team-Relay

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

The triathlon Mixed-Team-Relay (MTR) is a new race format present for the first time at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. The results of the ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championship from 2014 to 2019 were collected to provide practical suggestions for forming a successful MTR, such as the importance of each leg and discipline on MTR and Super-Sprint performance. The total relay time (Trelay), the time of each team member (leg-from 1 to 4) (Tleg), and the time of each single discipline (swim, T1, cycle, T2, run) were collected from the official website. Inferential analysis was performed to assess prediction and differences between variables. Leg 3 was shown to be the most important to predict Trelay (0.41), which is also the slower. For both Trelay and Tleg, cycling resulted as the most important (>0.60) and longer (~52%) portion, followed by running and swimming. However, higher importance in swimming was found in successful teams compared to running. For a successful MTR, we suggest: (a) use short-distance specialized triathletes; (b) strengthen cycling and swimming; (c) position in legs 1 and 2 athletes capable of racing in a group; in legs 3 and 4 athletes capable of racing in a non-drafting situation.