- The Professional Triathletes Organisation and World Triathlon bring Olympic racing back to the capital
- UK Sport funding supports ambition to turn event into ‘triathlon’s London Marathon’
London, UK: The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and World Triathlon have announced that the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) – won by British Olympic champion Alex Yee in 2024 after his triumph at the Paris Olympics – will return to London in 2026 at the London T100 Triathlon weekend.
The new London WTCS race has secured National Lottery funding from UK Sport, in partnership with British Triathlon, and will return to the capital for the first time since 2015 and take place on 25-26 July, 2026.
Based at Excel London, the event will be delivered by the PTO and London Marathon Events as part of its successful London T100 Triathlon weekend, which this year saw almost 6,000 amateur participants take part, including a number of famous sports persons and celebrities such as Adam Peaty, Billy Monger and Gordon Ramsay and his family.
The PTO and World Triathlon have decided to switch out the professional T100km distance races for 2026 – won this year by British star Lucy Charles-Barclay and New Zealand’s Paris 2024 Olympics silver medallist Hayden Wilde – for the shorter WTCS format. Whilst the amateur part of the weekend will continue to feature the PTO’s signature 100km triathlon (2km swim, 80km bike, 18km run) as well as Olympic, Sprint and Relay options.
“Bringing a WTCS race back to London is significant news for our sport and allows triathlon to continue to build on the British Team’s fantastic Olympic performances in Paris last year,” said Sam Renouf, the PTO CEO. “You only need to look at what individual men’s winner Alex Yee has done this year, following in the footsteps of his father and competing in the London Marathon, to know how important sport in the capital is to him.”
“This announcement is also another great demonstration of our collaboration with World Triathlon, who we have a 12-year strategic partnership with to grow the sport. As well as a good example of local partnership with British Triathlon, who we’ll work with to market to grassroots and new audiences as well as drive legacy beyond the event.”
The PTO’s long term agreement with World Triathlon was announced in October 2024 and runs until 2036. It includes a framework for both parties to explore new opportunities to grow the sport together, including hosting shorter-distance events alongside the T100 Tour; and has already seen them pilot a T1 Indoor World Cup in France earlier this year and host WTCS races alongside T100 races in France over the summer and in Wollongong, Australia, this weekend.
“We are delighted to be working with the PTO and World Triathlon to bring the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) to London,” added Hugh Brasher, the CEO of London Marathon Events, who have worked with the PTO on the London T100 Triathlon weekend since 2024. “At London Marathon Events, we are focused on inspiring more people to be active and moments like Alex [Yee], Beth [Potter], Georgia [Taylor-Brown], Kate [Waugh] and Sam’s [Dickinson] incredible performances in triathlon events at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 help us to do that. So it’s great to welcome the WTCS into the London T100 Triathlon weekend alongside the thousands of everyday participants who will be taking part in what is fast becoming the London Marathon of the triathlon calendar.”
“What is interesting about this announcement is our ability to work with the PTO on different distances of professional triathlon to match different opportunities,” said World Triathlon President, Antonio F. Arimany. “WTCS races are fast and furious and take place over a much shorter distance than the T100 professional races, which works well with the length of the current road permits in London. Following the successes of our partnership with the PTO this year and the ongoing growth of the T100 Triathlon World Tour, which goes from strength to strength, we believed it was our collective responsibility to continue to build on the good work and bring a WTCS race back to London.”
The PTO will work with British Triathlon, one of the leading triathlon nations, to market the event to its audiences to drive participation and deliver a compelling grassroots programme, creating a positive impact which extends beyond the weekend of racing.
British Triathlon CEO Ruth Daniels, who has been focused on bringing a major event back to the UK, added her voice behind the announcement, commenting:
“We’re really excited to partner with the PTO, World Triathlon and UK Sport on bringing a major event back to London. Not only is this a new major event model for us, it provides an opportunity for our incredible British athletes to perform on home soil in front of a passionate crowd of friends, family and fans. As well as enabling us to increase visibility of our great sport to new audiences, it will provide some great opportunities for hundreds of volunteers to get involved and experience another great sporting event in our capital city.”
“Alongside the races, we are committed to creating a sustainable event as well as a long-term legacy for local communities, by introducing triathlon to as broad and diverse an audience as possible through the delivery of a series of grassroots programmes across the capital and beyond.”
Head of Major Events at UK Sport, Esther Britten: “We are committed to using funding from The National Lottery to secure world class sporting events which enable fans to have the chance to cheer on GB athletes at home. Not only that, this event series also has a real opportunity to positively impact local communities within London by providing exciting participation and volunteering opportunities as well as having a positive environmental impact.”
This is more good news for sport in London following the Mayor Of London’s announcement last week, which celebrated women’s sports events bringing more than 1.4 million fans to the capital in 2025, through events including the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the HSBC Championships [tennis], Lionesses matches [football] at Wembley and the 25,000 fans who enjoyed the 2025 London T100 Triathlon weekend on 9-10 August this summer.
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For Further Information:
Anthony Scammell E: [email protected]
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About the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO)
The PTO is a sports body that is co-owned by its professional athletes, seeking to elevate and grow the sport of triathlon and take it to the next level. Its T100 Triathlon World Tour was introduced in January 2024 and is designated by World Triathlon as the ‘official World Championship for long distance triathlon’, which is part of a 12-year strategic partnership with the sport’s international governing body. The T100 Triathlon World Tour is a season-long schedule of World Championship level races competed over 100km (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run), where the world’s best triathletes go head-to-head in iconic locations on a global broadcast showing the races live around the world in 195+ territories, courtesy of the PTO’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as well as a range of other international, regional and local broadcasters. In 2025 these will include: Singapore (5-6 April), San Francisco (31 May-1 June), Vancouver (13-15 June), London (9-10 August), France (29-31 August), Spain (20 September), Wollongong (18 October), Dubai (15-16 November) and Qatar (12-13 December) for the first Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final. T100 weekends are ‘festivals of multisport’ and feature a range of opportunities for amateur athletes of all levels to get involved. From experienced amateurs tackling the 100km distance to first-time swim, bike and run participants taking on single discipline, untimed events. For more information visit www.t100triathlon.com
About World Triathlon
World Triathlon is the international governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon, cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the sport to be extraordinary.
About British Triathlon – https://www.britishtriathlon.org/
British Triathlon is the National Governing Body for triathlon and multisport in Great Britain, and the home of swim, bike, run. Its vision is to create great experiences for everyone in swim, bike, run and to develop an environment that makes Britain the world’s leading triathlon and paratriathlon nation; enabling success and increasing participation. Triathlon is a fast growing, dynamic and modern Olympic and Paralympic sport with talented world class athletes, coaches and support staff, focused around delivering world-class success and inspiring participation.
