Posted: May 6, 2006

Triathlon: International Triathlon Union and World Triathlon Corporation agree to settle court case

CANADA, Vancouver – The International Triathlon Union (ITU) and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), more widely known as “Ironman”, have agreed to a settlement agreement before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A few days before the hearing was scheduled to begin, the parties chose to resolve the issues that originated from the adoption of a resolution proposed by USA Triathlon during the last ITU Congress in September 2005, restricting ITU’s member federations from sanctioning WTC events.

Viewed neither as a victory nor a defeat by either party, the ITU no longer restricts its member federations from sanctioning WTC events.

This settlement agreement will allow ITU to resume its focus on its World Championships and World Cup events, as well as preparing the best starting list of athletes for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

“The signature of the settlement agreement essentially puts both organizations back in the situation we were in prior to the 2005 Congress. ITU’s season of exciting World Cup races has already begun, with our next stop scheduled for May 7th, in Mazatlan, Mexico. The Triathlon World Championships will take place in September 2006 in Lausanne, Switzerland.” stated ITU’s CEO, Loreen Barnett.

ITU is the world governing body for the sport of triathlon, and is the only recognized body by the International Olympic Committee. Triathlon has been a full-medal sport on the Olympic programme since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The triathlon is a continuous event, composed of a 1,500m open-water swim, 40 km cycle race and 10km run. World-level athletes complete the event in under 1h50mins for the men and 2h00 for the women.

More information on ITU can be found at Triathlon.org.

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