Belinda Granger on the changing landscape of long course triathlon

Whilst the traditional pathway in triathlon used to dictate that athletes would move up to long distance racing after finishing their short course careers, the landscape of the sport has changed significantly over recent years.

With athletes such as Gustav Iden and Taylor Knibb winning world titles at 26 and 24 years of age respectively last season, more and more young professionals are turning their hand, with great success, to long course racing.

In this article, former professional triathlete and Challenge Family Pro Athlete Liaison Belinda Granger, a stalwart of the sport, shares her opinion on the evolution of triathlon and gives an insight into the risks the younger generation might face.

“It blows my mind”

Having enjoyed a tremendously successful long course career herself as a multiple time Ironman champion, Granger knows better than many the trials and tribulations that long course racing can bring and why building up to the distance is so critical.

“Back when I was racing, you either did short course or you did long course, and the short course was normally the younger generation and long course was the older generation, so 30 years old and above.

“I didn’t even think about doing long course racing until I was in my early thirties! Now you look at it and not only do you have all these 23 year olds doing middle distance racing, but they’re all doing the full distance races as well.”

Highlighting the fact that not only are these athletes racing middle distance events but also winning them, Granger points out that the recently crowned World Long Distance Champions are both only at the very beginning of their careers.

“Now you have these 23 to 25 year old men and women, such as Clement Mignon and his partner Marjolaine Pierre, who are our new World Long Distance Champion at just 24, coming into the middle distance scene and bypassing the short course scene.”

Is longevity at stake?

The chief concern Granger has about such young athletes racing middle distance and long course events is the toll that it takes, both in training and racing, on the athletes bodies.

“I was lucky enough to have close to twenty years in the sport and I think it’s because I started off in short course, made my way into middle distance and then worked up to full distance racing.

“It blows my mind. I don’t know why these youngsters are in such a rush to do the longer distance races because they are quite hard on your body and I do worry a little about their longevity in the sport and where they will be in five years time.”

Whilst cautious of the long term impact, Granger understands the attraction of long course racing for a lot of up and coming professionals, with the injection of cash by the PTO over the last couple of seasons a big factor in her mind.

“I think the PTO have made it much more attractive for the short course athletes to come across to race the 100km distance and having these races that are worth $1 million is just so attractive with the prize money and the opportunities.

“It will be interesting to see the longevity of these athletes and how they last further down the road and if they are able to have long and incredible careers like so many athletes back in the day.”