DRAFT LEGAL TRIATHLON GENERAL INFORMATION
RELATED - USA Triathlon Home Page
This page is dedicated to answering some common questions for those who are new to high school or collegiate triathlon, or simply triathlon in general. If you are a high school track, cross country, or swimming coach or student-athlete and are curious to learn more about how the sport works at both the high school and collegiate level, you have come to the right place.
Race Distances: Junior, or high school (ages 16-19) and collegiate (NCAA and club) triathlon events typically consist of the standardized distances of
750 meter swim, 20 kilometer bike and 5 kilometer run. This is considered a
sprint distance triathlon. An
Olympic distance triathlon (which is contested in the Olympics and in several Senior World Cup events) is exactly double the sprint distances (
1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run).
Half-Ironman/Ironman events (which are their own series and entity entirely with no association to junior, college or International/Olympic events) are
roughly double/quadruple the Olympic distance (
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a marathon [26.2 mile] run for a full Ironman, and exactly half those distances for a half Ironman). Ironman and Half Ironman events are also often referred to as "140.6" or "70.3" events, which are the respective cumulative distances, in miles, for a full and half Ironman. There can also be many other variations on the course lengths and setup (off-road, duathlons, canoe paddle, etc.), but these are more common at recreational/local events.
High School Triathlon: There are currently no high school triathlon programs in the United States that are sanctioned by high school activities associations. High school athletes, or “juniors” either compete unattached or as part of an established club program. Most of these club programs and their competitions are sanctioned by USA Triathlon (USAT), which is the governing body for the sport in the United States. Many of the competitions that USAT have established for juniors are in the non-drafting format, while the highest-caliber juniors compete in draft-legal triathlons, commonly as part of the Junior Elite Cup series.
You can learn more about USAT and their junior elite program through this link.
So what does draft-legal mean? Simply put, draft-legal triathlons allow athletes to draft off of one another during the bike portion of the competition. This creates a drastic shift in the dynamics of a triathlon race, potentially placing a higher importance on a triathlete’s position coming out of the swim in order to pack up with the ideal bike group. Draft-legal events also require a high degree of bike handling skills to safely and skillfully navigate pack riding. The majority of the triathlon competitions you are likely to see in your community (or the Ironman competitions you see on TV) are non-draft legal. Athletes will actually incur a time penalty if they are caught drafting during a non-draft legal race. However the triathlon at the Olympic Games, in addition to collegiate, Junior Elite, and Senior World Cup events, is draft-legal.
Shorter draft-legal event courses are typically laid out in laps for all three disciplines, commonly consisting of a one or two lap swim, two to four lap bike, and two lap run. Athletes are not allowed to be lapped, and are considered “lapped out” or disqualified if they are overtaken by the leader. For more information about draft-legal racing and rules, visit
https://draftlegalrules.com/.
College Triathlon: Collegiate triathlon has been a club sport since 1989. Club sports are typically not run by a university’s athletic department, but instead by their activities or intramurals office. Clubs may or may not have a coach, and typically hold non-mandatory practices for members to attend at their convenience. Clubs are run by students with the aid of a faculty advisor. Members are responsible for their own equipment and travel expenses, which may or may not be supplemented by the club or through fundraising. Despite being student-led and self-funded, USAT provides very competitive club events, including a collegiate club national championships. Clubs are also members of 1 of 10 conferences recognized by USAT.
Women’s collegiate NCAA triathlon was only recently adopted in 2014, but is growing rapidly. Triathlon is currently classified as an “emerging sport” by the NCAA. Emerging sports have 10 years to prove sustainability and can achieve “championship status” by sustaining 40 NCAA programs by the end of those 10 years. With around 30 programs already established, USAT is well on its way to achieving the 2024 championship status goal.
You can learn more about USAT’s efforts to add the sport to the NCAA online here.
NCAA Triathlon Competition Rules
- Women’s triathlon will be a draft-legal sprint race consisting of a 750m Swim (+/- 150m), 20k Bike (+/- 1k), and a 5k Run (+/- 250m).
- Five (5) participants per team can race in the varsity draft-legal race. The top three (3) finishers will go towards scoring, with the remaining two (2) functioning as place holders against opponent’s team scores.
- Remaining participants can race in a non-draft legal race. Scoring will not go towards any national rankings.
- A maximum of 75 athletes can compete in the draft-legal varsity race.
- The swim leg of the race may take place in either an open body of water, or pool. Regional Qualifiers and National Championships must take place in an open body of water.
Scoring
Scoring for Women’s Triathlon will be modeled after cross country scoring, where lowest score wins.
All triathletes who finish will be given an overall finish place.
Team scoring will abide by the following process:
i. All triathletes who finish will be given an overall finish place.
ii. The top three (3) finishers from a team will have their overall finish place count towards the team scoring.
iii. Team scoring shall be determined by total points of the first three finishing triathletes from each team.
iv. The team scoring the lowest number of points shall be the winner.
v. The fourth (4th) and fifth (5th) triathletes on a team do not score points towards their team total, but their places, if better than those of any of the first three (3) of an opposing team, serve to increase the team score of the opponents.
Qualification for National Championship
The 75-athlete field will abide by the following process for qualification for the National Championship:
i. The top four (4) five-person teams from each Regional Qualifier (total 60 athletes).
ii. The top five (5) individuals from each Regional Qualifier who are not on a qualifying team (total 15 athletes).
iii. Any unclaimed team or individual spots will become wildcard positions to be filled by the USAT working group.
Rules
Women’s Triathlon adheres to the USA Triathlon Collegiate Draft Legal Race Rules and the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Draft Legal Race Rules.
