Our Origins

Triathlon came to Australia in the early 1980s after developing mainly on the West Coast of the USA in the mid to late 1970s. The first State Triathlon Associations were formed in late 1984 and early 1985. In May 1986 at Broadbeach, QLD the Triathlon Federation of Australia was formed and Dr. Jim Hazel (after whom the Australian Ultra distance Championship Trophy is named) from Sydney became the inaugural President with Geoff Frost from Melbourne the Vice President. In 1991 the name of the national Governing Body was changed to Triathlon Australia (TA). In 2023, Triathlon Australia reinvented itself once more, taking on the name AusTriathlon, with the brand identity that you see today. 

AusTriathlon became a founding member of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) upon its formation in April 1989 in Avignon France. The first ITU World Championships were also held in Avignon in August of that year. The distances chosen were to become the standard in short course triathlon racing – 1.5 km swim 40km cycle and 10 km run. As the swim was the equivalent of the longest Olympic pool event, the bike was the standard international time trial distance and the run the longest Olympic track event, the term “Olympic Distance” quickly became shorthand for the standard course.

On 1 July 2022, AusTriathlon marked another significant milestone in its history when it moved to a new operating model that unified the states of Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory. It marked the beginning of a more efficient and effective operating model for triathlon in Australia and was underpinned by three pillars of strategy, finance and workforce.