Supertri is an international short-course triathlon organisation that stages festival-style triathlon events in iconic city locations across North America and Europe. Its events connect elite and amateur athletes at the same venues, under a unified race model introduced in 2026. The company operates the Supertri Pro Series for professional athletes and a portfolio of mass participation events. Supertri was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in London.
Michael D'hulst met Chris McCormack while running the Challenge Taiwan event, and the pair struck up a friendship and often discussed their shared passion for elevating the sport. As they worked together on multiple projects in Asia, they started to refine the concept behind what was to be christened as Super League Triathlon.
An encounter with Leonid Boguslavsky, who had been inspired to take up the sport at the age 62 after reading McCormack's book 'I'm Here To Win', led to a meeting at a hotel in London, and the three decided to launch a one-off test event to see whether their concept that professional triathlon could be an inspirational spectator sport could be achieved.
They held the test event on Hamilton Island, and it was a success, leading them to grow the concept into an annual series, initially known as the Championship Series, Supertri League and then Supertri Pro Series. D'hulst took on the role as the permanent CEO of the company.
The key differentiator for Supertri is its short formats, tight broadcast times, stadium-like courses with technical elements often missing from triathlon racing, and a closed-league.
The Championship Series quickly grew, with 3 events per Series in 2018 and 2019 before COVID.
In 2019, the business moved its headquarters from Singapore to London.
The spread of COVID and the associated lockdowns saw the cancellation of sports events worldwide. D'hulst, Boguslavsky and McCormack opted against hibernating the business and created an indoor Esports racing series that could be run with social distancing rules in place.
Arena Games Triathlon, now Supertri E, debuted in Rotterdam in 2020 and has gone on to become a core part of the business.
By 2021 and the end of lockdowns, the indoor Esports series and the Championship Series grew to seven events, and to eight in 2022.
Super League Triathlon acquired the Malibu Triathlon in 2020. At that stage the theory was to trial a participation offering while also acquiring an established US base for a Super League professional event. After three events in Malibu local permitting laws saw the event change operator, but the concept of expanding mass participation focussed on short and accessible race formats had been proven.
In 2023, the company acquired Chicago Triathlon, New York City Triathlon, and established the Long Beach Legacy Triathlon. It went on to acquire Austin Triathlon and Kerrville Triathlon in 2024, and announced the acquisitions of Toronto Triathlon Festival, Blenheim Palace Triathlon and New Jersey State Triathlon in 2025, while also launching the Toulouse Triathlon alongside the established professional Supertri League event in the city.
Super League Triathlon was also no more, as the company rebranded to Supertri.
In late 2025, Supertri announced a significant strategic shift for 2026, moving to a unified festival model in which elite professional racing is integrated into select mass participation events rather than operating as a separate entity. Under the new structure, professional athletes compete in a Supertri Pro Series race within selected Supertri mass participation events, racing the same sprint-distance, draft-legal courses as age-group participants. The leading professionals qualify through these events for a standalone Supertri Pro Series Final. As part of the restructuring, Supertri paused its Supertri E World Championship in 2026, following the International Olympic Committee's decision to cancel its planned Esports Games.
By 2026, Supertri's mass particpation expansion meant they owned two of the five largest short-course triathlons in the world by participant numbers: Chicago Triathlon and Blenheim Palace Triathlon.
Supertri's events are designed as festival-style experiences at city centre or landmark venues, offering multiple race formats to cater for athletes of all abilities. From 2026, selected events also host a Supertri Pro Series race, integrating elite professional competition within the mass participation festival.
Supertri operates a First-Timer Programme across its event portfolio, offering participants 12 weeks of free personalised training in partnership with training platform TriDot, live online coaching sessions, dedicated race-day support, and first-timer-specific swim starts and transition areas. In 2025, 41% of Supertri race entrants were competing in their first triathlon event. Supertri set a target of welcoming 10,000 new participants into the sport in 2026.
Supertri also operates an Ambassador Programme, through which community leaders run local training sessions, clubs and meetups to introduce new participants to triathlon and build local Supertri communities. A Corporate Challenge programme enables companies to enter relay and individual teams at selected events, with fundraising components supporting partner charities. The Corporate Challenge at Supertri Long Beach has raised more than $20 million for paediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
From 2026, Supertri introduced a Global Rankings system in partnership with TriDot, enabling athletes to compare their performance across events in the portfolio using an algorithm that normalises results for course, weather and conditions.
Held on the shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago Triathlon is the largest triathlon in North America. The course features a swim in Monroe Harbor, a bike route through the city centre, and a run past landmarks including Buckingham Fountain and Soldier Field. Race formats include SuperSprint, Sprint and Olympic distances, as well as an Enduro challenge combining all three distances across a single weekend. The event raises funds for paediatric cancer research at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Long Beach Legacy Triathlon is set on the Southern California coastline and features a protected bay swim. It is described as the world's largest fundraising triathlon. Race options include Sprint and Olympic distances for individuals and relay teams, a Corporate Challenge, and a Kids Splash and Dash. The event has raised more than $20 million for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
The largest short-endurance triathlon in Texas with a 30-year history, Austin Triathlon takes place in downtown Austin around Memorial Day in May. The multi-lap course passes the Texas State Capitol. From 2026, the event hosts a Supertri Pro Series race.
Held in the Texas Hill Country, Kerrville Triathlon takes place along the Guadalupe River and has been staged annually since 2011.
First held in 2012, Toronto Triathlon takes place in the heart of Toronto. The course includes a swim at Ontario Place, a bike leg on downtown highways, and a run along Lake Shore. From 2026, the event hosts a Supertri Pro Series race.
Held at Mercer County Park, New Jersey State Triathlon is one of the ten largest triathlons in the United States and is known for its flat, fast course. The event celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2026, the first year under Supertri management. Race formats include Sprint and Olympic distances.
The largest triathlon in the United Kingdom, Blenheim Palace Triathlon has been staged for over two decades at Blenheim Palace, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Race formats include Sprint, Super Sprint and Relay, as well as the Weekend Warrior Challenge, in which athletes complete as many triathlons as possible across the event weekend. 2026 is the first year under Supertri management, and the event hosts a Supertri Pro Series race.
Held in the centre of Toulouse, France, the course includes a swim at Port de la Daurade, a technically demanding bike segment featuring cobblestones and climbs, and a run along the city's riverfront. The event raises funds for cancer research at the ICUT â Oncopole Toulouse.
From 2026, Supertri restructured its professional racing as the Supertri Pro Series. Rather than a standalone closed league, elite racing is embedded within mass participation festival events, with professional athletes competing on the same sprint-distance, draft-legal courses as amateur participants. This integration is designed to bring professional and amateur athletes closer together and increase the visibility of elite racing within the broader triathlon community.
The 2026 Pro Series consists of three qualifying events and a season-ending Supertri Pro Series Final. Confirmed qualifying events are Ascension Seton Supertri Austin (Texas, 25 May 2026), Supertri Blenheim Palace (United Kingdom, 7 June 2026), and Supertri Toronto (Canada, 26 July 2026). Each event awards three direct qualifying places per gender for the Final.
The Pro Series Final is contested over Supertri's signature format â multiple back-to-back stages of swim, bike and run with elimination and the Short Chute mechanic â and carries a prize purse of more than US$800,000, with each gender winner earning US$100,000, described by Supertri as the largest single-day prize purse in triathlon. All Pro Series events pay prize money ten places deep.
A central athlete roster is recruited by Supertri for each season. Throughout its history, Supertri has featured Olympic and World champions including Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallists Cassandre Beaugrand and Alex Yee, as well as Hayden Wilde, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Jonathan Brownlee. Beaugrand competed in six seasons of Supertri before her 2024 Olympic victory; Yee was first given a place in the competition aged 19.
The Supertri League/Championship season which was held up to and including 2025, traditionally ran between August and November. Over the course of the season, Rounds were held at locations around the world. There were Women's, Men's and Teams Supertri League champions each year.
Being a closed League, only athletes who had a contract for the current season competed. Athletes were recruited either by the League or by the Teams where franchises are owned, aiming for a blend of the world's best and most high-profile athletes and up and coming stars of the future.
Triathlon has traditionally been an individual sport but Supertri introduced Teams. Athletes raced together and accumulated points as a team, with different stages to win points and a redistribution of prize money of all athletes who contribute and are supported.
After its early trial years, Supertri opened franchises up to potential ownership in 2024, with would-be owners vetted to ensure they will bring value to growing the League and the sport. Two initial franchises were acquired by Brownlee Racing, led by Jonathan Brownlee and Alistair Brownlee, and Podium Racing, led by John Anthony and managed by Tim Don.
The Teams all had managers who oversaw the athletes and made tactical decisions during the racing. In 2024, Brownlee Racing was managed by Non Stanford, Crown Racing by Chris McCormack, Podium Racing by Tim Don, and Stars & Stripes Racing by Parker Spencer.
Supertri League courses are built on 1 mile loops for multiple spectator and broadcast angles. It also minimizes disruption for hosts without widespread road closures associated with endurance sports events, and makes it possible for city centre locations. All courses are unique, from cobbles and lakes, to seas and open desert.
Supertri League is raced over the Supertri format, which is three back-to-back rounds of swim, bike and run with no breaks. The distances for each discipline are 300m swim, 4 km bike and 1.6 km run. The format places an emphasis on athletes being able to produce both speed and endurance, as well as on transitions with eight required during the course of a race, rather than two in a traditional triathlon.
Over the years Supertri has also used other formats, including the Triple Mix, Eliminator and Equalizer, but in 2024 moved to standardise racing under the Supertri format.
The Short Chute is an opportunity for athletes to win a shortcut on the course. That has been used in both the individual and team racing format. In the Supertri format, there are three Short Chutes available. All are won during the first swim, bike and run legs and taken on the final run as follows:
During each Round athletes were awarded points depending on where they finished in the race. The points were accumulated to crown the champions of the Women's and Men's Leagues at the end of the League season. In addition, there were separate discipline Leagues to recognise the fastest swim, bike and runners across the season.
Each athlete's individual points plus points any won by athletes in each discipline counted towards the overall Teams League to crown the Teams champions at the end of the season. In the case of a tie in the Leagues, the athlete or Team with the best result in the final race of the League finished ahead of the other athletes or Teams.
Discipline Leagues are awarded as follow:
Any athlete that falls 90 seconds behind the leader is eliminated from the race. This is implemented every lap, measured from the first athlete passing the Mount Line, executed at the Mount Line and prevents lapping.
*There were two test events held in 2017 which were raced as one-offs. Hamilton Island: 1) Richard Murray, 2) Mario Mola, 3) Jake Birtwhistle. Jersey: 1) Kristian Blummenfelt, 2) Jonathan Brownlee, 3) Richard Murray.
*There was one event held in 2017 which was raced as a one-off. Jersey: 1) Katie Zaferes, 2) Summer Cook, 3) Nicola Spirig.
*Due to extreme weather conditions the event took place as an aquathlon over 3 x swim and run
*Due to extreme weather conditions the event took place as an aquathlon over 3 x swim and run
*From 2023 onwards all races were over the Supertri format
Supertri E is a triathlon series that fuses the worlds of real life and virtual racing. It is featured at the IOC's Olympic Esports Week.
The Supertri E World Triathlon Championship crowns official Esports triathlon World Champions. Athletes compete in arenas, swim in Olympic pools, and complete bike and run segments on smart trainers and self-powered curved treadmills.
In 2024, the World Championship took place at the London Aquatic Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on April 13. British triathlete Beth Potter clinched the women's title and American athlete Chase McQueen secured the men's championship.
Originally named Arena Games Triathlon, Supertri E was born in the COVID pandemic-era, when lockdowns and restrictions saw global sport forced to either adapt of shut down entirely. As a mass sport that required mass gatherings, triathlon was a sport heavily effected.
Supertri CEO Michael D'hulst had been speaking to technology platform Zwift about the idea of a hybrid real life and virtual event for some time, but the companies agreed to accelerate their development of the concept during the COVID lockdowns, and the concept was established.
Athletes would swim in an indoor pool, and could cycle and run at stations positioned far enough apart that they adhered to social distancing rules. The technology enabled a real race to happen and a global broadcast that was innovative and safe. The first Arena Games Triathlon took place in Rotterdam in 2020, and the event was so successful it won multiple awards and a new triathlon race format was created.
After several years of refining the concept, Supertri partnered with World Triathlon to create official Esports World Champions from the event, and to get it into the IOC's Olympic Esports Week. The event now runs with the technology platform under the title Supertri E World Triathlon Championships is powered by MyWhoosh. It is aiming to be a medal event at the IOC Esports Olympics.
Supertri E blends real life racing and virtual racing. The swim portions of the race take place in an Olympic standard pool, while the bike and run sections take place on the pool deck or pool's surrounding area, utilizing static bikes and self propelled treadmills. The bike and run sections of the race are captured using cameras, capturing the athlete's reactions as the race unfolds, and through utilizing the training platform MyWhoosh. This includes athletes each having their own race avatar (so that spectators can see the athlete's positions, in relation to each other, on the route selected on Zwift) and real time displays of power output and heart rate data.
At Supertri E, each swim is 200 m, each bike is 4 km, and each run is 1 km. Supertri E events are competed over heats and a final. Heats see two stages of swim-bike-run, which determine which athletes proceed to the final. 10 athletes qualify for each event final. From 2025, the final is competed over the Supertri race format. This means 3 back to back stages of swim, bike, run. with minimal rest between each stage. Previous editions saw a pursuit style start adopted for the final stage, and the second stage taking the form reversed triathlon (run, bike, swim).
Supertri confirmed that the Supertri E World Championship would be paused in 2026. The decision followed the International Olympic Committee's announcement that it was cancelling its planned Esports Games, which had been a significant platform for the format's growth and its ambition to become a medal event at the Olympic level.