What is the Triathlon Mixed Team Relay?

Updated August 1, 2024 03:45PM

On Monday, August 5, we’ll see the third and final triathlon event of the Paris Olympic Games: the mixed team relay. With 16 teams competing in the event, you won’t want to miss seeing which country comes out on top. Here’s how to watch it. But what exactly is the triathlon mixed relay (or team relay), and how does it work?

What is the triathlon mixed team relay?

First and foremost: Team mixed relay is not a relay like you’ve done at your local triathlon, where one person does one leg of the race. Instead, in mixed team relay every athlete completes an entire mini swim-bike-run before tagging off to the next athlete. Each team is made up of two men and two women, and for the Paris Olympic cycle, the required order is male-female-male-female (in the Tokyo cycle, it was female-male-female-male). Each athlete will complete a draft-legal super sprint triathlon of a 300m swim, 6.8K bike, and 1K run—which takes around 20 minutes—before tagging the next athlete into the race.

Mixed team relay or triathlon team relay was first introduced in 2009 and was announced as a new event in the Olympics in 2017 (along with a number of other Olympic mixed team events, like the archery and judo mixed team competition, the mixed 4x400m relay in track, and the mixed 4x100m medley relay in swimming). It made its official Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, and it was quite the thrilling race (read all about it here). Since then, mixed relay has only gotten better and more exciting as teams have mastered the art of building the perfect mixed relay combo.

How does team relay affect Olympic qualification?

Every athlete who competes in the mixed team relay at the Olympics must also have been eligible for the individual triathlon event (though countries can sub in an alternate after the individual events if someone was injured or sick). Some teams, like the United States, have heavily considered the mixed relay in their Olympic selection processes. After all, a 20-minute race requires a much different athlete than a two-hour race.

While every country that has two men and two women qualified for the individual triathlon race can field a relay team at the Olympics, there have also been some spots reserved for countries that qualify specifically as relay teams. For instance, at the Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification event in Huatulco, the Norwegian and Dutch teams secured their Olympic relay spots. There are now 16 countries expected to field relay teams in Paris.

When is the Olympic triathlon mixed relay and how do I watch?

The mixed team relay will be held on Monday, August 5 at 8 a.m. local time in Paris. In the U.S., that’s 2 a.m. ET or 11 p.m. PT on Sunday, August 4. Of course, this is contingent on the swim venue passing water quality and current tests on race morning, which has been an ongoing issue at the Games this year; the men’s race was postponed one day due to poor water quality. The contingency date for the triathlon mixed team relay is August 6.

In the United States, live and tape-delayed coverage of triathlon will be shown on NBC and the USA Network. To find your local times and TV channels for watching the Olympic triathlon races, visit the NBC Olympics schedule page and click the toggle at the top to “TV Only.”

The 2024 Paris Olympic triathlon races will also be streamed live on NBC’s Peacock app, which can be accessed for a subscription of $6/month or $60 per year. Users can also authenticate with their cable subscription, which allows them to watch live streams of every Olympic event on any digital device, via NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC app, or the NBC Olympics app. Subscribers will also be able to watch full event replays on demand.

Which countries are racing the triathlon mixed relay at the Paris Olympics?

Countries qualified through designated qualifying relay races or by having two women and two men qualified for the individual races. Those countries at the 2024 Games are:

Who is racing for the U.S. team?

USA Triathlon has confirmed with Triathlete that their team members will be Taylor Knibb, Taylor Spivey, Morgan Pearson, and Seth Rider – though lineups can change up to two hours before the starting pistol fires. Knibb and Pearson are the most experienced members of the team, having won the silver medal at the Tokyo Games with Katie Zaferes and Kevin McDowell. Spivey and Rider were part of the American mixed relay team that took fourth place at the 2023 mixed relay championships in Hamburg as well as the third-place team at the 2022 championships in Montreal. They also raced with Knibb and Darr Smith at the 2023 Paris test event, where they placed ninth.

Who else should we watch?

This year, Team Germany goes in as heavy favorites, having just won back-to-back world titles. France is also a strong contender, with newly-crowned gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand and bronze medalist Leo Bergere bringing the hype to the home crowd. Switzerland, New Zealand, and Tokyo mixed relay gold medalists Great Britain are also likely to come in with heavy-hitting squads.