World Triathlon

January has proven to be a month filled with continued projects and milestones.
- Our core team convened in the vibrant city of Barcelona, Spain, where we engaged in discussions, meticulously planned upcoming projects, and set out our strategic approach for the dynamic year that lies ahead.
- This month, TRI Development announced the opening of applications for the Athlete Scholarship. This initiative aims to provide crucial support during the final phase of the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification, marking a significant step in nurturing and empowering our talented athletes from Developing nations.
- In the coaching arena, TRI Certified Coaches are gearing up for a period of online learning tasks from February 1st to March 31st, 2024, as part of the revalidation requirements (CRoC). Before these invitations to revalidate, World Triathlon will unveil coaching data, shedding light on the standing of National Federations and the progress of coaches within our community.
- For a look into the world of TRI coaching courses, a collection of videos captured during the recent Korean Triathlon - World Triathlon Coaching Education project, showcasing coaches and facilitators in action are available via the link below.
- The latest participant in the Women in Sport in High Performance (WISH) program - Lini Kazim from Malaysia - joined the training group of Roberto Cejuela Anta at the University of Alicante in Spain, an experience that was career-changing for her coaching journey.
- As a reminder, World Triathlon extends a call to its members to fulfil annual membership obligations by submitting the 2023 NF Survey, 2023 financial statements, and settling the membership fee before April 30, 2024, to maintain Good Standing within our community.

Here’s to a year filled with growth, achievement, and the relentless pursuit of excellence in triathlon development and education!

WORLD DEVELOPMENT TEAM MEETING IN SPAIN
The World Triathlon Education and Development Team gathered in Barcelona, ESP, from January 22 to 25. Led by TRI Head of NF Services & Development, Zita Csovelyak, the team embraced this unique opportunity for their first in-person meeting since 2019. The key to the meeting was for the team to reflect on the year, assess where projects stand and articulate the vision for the upcoming 12 months. This meeting was designed to tackle the planned projects of 2024.

Setting the Stage for an Extraordinary 2024
Paris 2024 promises to be unique in the history of World Triathlon. As the TRI community embarks on this exciting year, all Development projects and programs must be carefully planned to support athletes, coaches and NF’s.

The TRI Education and Development Team achieves numerous successes and milestones through the many projects that run concurrently throughout each year. This takes planning and precise end-to-end program design and rollout while also navigating through various challenges. All this is done under the umbrella of ‘Development’ – providing support for the growth of Triathlon for coaches, athletes, technical officials, facilitators, mentors and Para triathlon while also advancing NF’s to ensure everyone is advancing our sport.

Agenda Overview
There were almost 30 agenda items to discuss in the three days in Barcelona. To give structure to the meeting, all presentations were made by topic leads or those involved in the lead rollout and design of the project. Each presentation provided details on ‘where we are’, ‘what do we want to achieve by the end of 2024 (and beyond)’ and ‘the proposal and plan for the project’. Discussions were then ensured with detailed action plans.

World Triathlon Secretary General Antonio F. Arimany attended the first two days to contribute to the planning discussions. “It was great to participate in the discussions of the future strategy of the World Triathlon Education & Development. I am sure the outcome will reinforce our services to our athletes, coaches, technical officials, National Federations and Continental Confederations in developing our sport worldwide.”

Meeting Attendees: Lead: Zita Csovelyak (TRI), Istvan Jankov (TRI) - Coach Education Manager, Dave Foord (GBR) - TRI Education & Knowledge Hub Developer, Vicent Beltran (ESP), Francesco Fissore (ITA), Emma Carney (AUS) - contractors and Rolf Ebeling (GER) advisor.

Closing Thoughts
The insights and decisions made during this meeting will undoubtedly shape the course of
World Triathlon’s development and education initiatives, making 2024 an extraordinary year
for World Triathlon and beyond!

Development staff update
Firas Al-Hmood from Jordan joins the World Triathlon Development Team as a Development Admin Coordinator to fill the part-time vacancy. Firas remains as Asia Continental Coordinator as well.

ATHLETES
Athlete Scholarship to support the last phase of the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification
World Triathlon invites applications for the World Triathlon Athlete Scholarship to support potential Olympic athletes from developing and emerging National Federations (NF group 2, 3B, and 3A). The focus is on those with the greatest needs, facilitating their participation at both the World and Continental levels during the remaining months of the Olympic Qualification Period, which concludes on 27 May 2024. This initiative aims to assist athletes in preparing and qualifying for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Qualification Criteria
To be eligible, Athletes must be registered and in good standing with their National Federations, and need to have shown the ability to race at a high standard in Continental and World Triathlon Cup-level competitions. The athletes nominated should be committed to competing in the long term and have the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as an ultimate objective.

Athletes must have the potential to be able to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games via one of the following qualification pathways:
- Individual Olympic Qualification Ranking
- World Triathlon Ranking - Continental “New Flag”
- Universality Invitational Place (IOC Tripartite Commission)
- Must be from an emerging/developing National Federation (NF Groups: 2, 3B, 3A).
- All applications will be considered with a strong endorsement from the Athlete’s National Federation.

All applications will be considered in conjunction with a strong endorsement from the Athlete’s National Federation.
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: MONDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2024 (CET)
ONLINE NOMINATION FORM.

For more information visit Triathlon.org.

COACHING EDUCATION

2024 Certification Revalidation of Coaches (CRoC)
As in each year, World Triathlon Certified Coaches will again be required to complete online learning tasks between 1 February and 31 March 2024 to fulfil revalidation requirements. Besides current anti-doping updates, this year’s focus will be Body Confident Coaching. Participants will also be required to complete the new Nutrition Module if they have not done so yet (this resource is optionally available within the coaches’ course since August 2023).

Completing the anti-doping tasks of the current revalidation will result in the same eligibility for event accreditations as completing the High-Performance Coach Anti-Doping Education 2024 course. Coaches who complete the revalidation will not need to take that course, they can be accredited to World Triathlon events straightforward.

Korea Triathlon - World Triathlon Coaches Education: Extraordinary milestone

After two years entirely online, the Korea Triathlon - World Triathlon Coaches Education Programme returned to face-to-face delivery, which all stakeholders eagerly awaited. The Olympic Park of Seoul was the perfect venue for theoretical and practical sessions, where 31 coaches from 16 National Federations (Asia and Oceania) were newly certified. The 6th edition of the project was remarkable as only one participant did not manage to complete the course, which is an outstandingly high success rate, and the total number of certified coaches within this exceptional program exceeded 300.

TRI Coach Education Video Series
World Triathlon Development recorded interviews with L1 and L2 coaches attending the Korea Triathlon - World Triathlon Coaching Education Programme in Seoul in November 2023. This interview series provides insights about the TRI coaching education pathways, courses, benefits of education, and continuous professional development. Please meet the coaches trio of the Philippines: WATCH THE VIDEO.

Annual Coach Education Report to the National Federations

World Triathlon Development continues providing detailed annual coaching education reports to each National Federation about their educational achievements, including Level 1 and Level 2 completion details, Level 2 eligibility, and year-by-year revalidation statuses of all their coaches in our database. The reports will be sent just prior to the launch of the 2024 Certification Revalidation of Coaches (CRoC) process, aiming that NF representatives are well informed, can take ownership of the education and progression of their coaches, and can plan according to the current status.

2023 TRI Coach Education in figures
World Triathlon Development delivered 15 face-to-face courses in 2023 (11 on Level 1 and 4 on Level 2) and launched two continuously available, fully online revalidation opportunities for expired and pre-2014 certificates. Olympic Solidarity founded six of the Level 1 courses.

In total, 206 new coach certificates were issued, 157 (76%) on Level 1 and 49 (24%) on Level 2. Among successful participants, 135 (66%) are male, and 71 (34%) are female. Olympic Solidarity made it possible for 75 individuals to earn a World Triathlon Level 1 Coaching Certificate.

WISH Programme: Lini Kazim (MAS) in Alicante (ESP)
WISH coach Lini Kazim from Malaysia spent January in Alicante, Spain, joining the training group of ROBERTO CEJUELA ANTA at the University of Alicante. Lini was the last participant of the WISH programme (Women in Sport in High Performance), starting her leadership education in August 2023. She spent January in Alicante, closely following the training and activities of the group led by Roberto. This experience has been part of her sport-specific mentorship.

“I learnt as soon as I introduced myself to Roberto Cejuela and his team that high performance coaching is all in the details. The opportunity to be totally immersed in their daily work has brought so much clarity to what I have learnt in theory. It feels like every moment is an Eureka moment!

This is beyond what I expect of technical, sport-specific mentoring and should be set as the new gold standard. Thank you World Triathlon for raising the bar yet again,” said Lini Kazim.

This is not the first time that World Triathlon Development works together with Roberto Cejeula. Prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games, Olympic potential, Basmla Elsalamoney from Egypt joined to his group as part of her preparation for the last months of the Olympic Qualification period. World Triathlon thanks Roberto and his group to welcoming developing athletes and coaches who want to take the next step in their personal development.

Eligible lists - Level 2 Coaches Education
World Triathlon published the lists of all eligible coaches per continent who can take their education to the next level (Level 2). Please check out on Triathlon.org. If you want to continue your coaching journey, please contact your continental coordinator and express interest. 
Asia Triathlon - List of World Triathlon Level 2 Eligible Coaches 2024
Africa Triathlon - List of World Triathlon Level 2 Eligible Coaches 2024
Europe Triathlon - List of World Triathlon Level 2 Eligible Coaches 2024
Americas Triathlon - List of World Triathlon Level 2 Eligible Coaches 2024
Oceania Triathlon - List of World Triathlon Level 2 Eligible Coaches 2024

TECHNICAL OFFICIALS ANNUAL CERTIFICATION

World Triathlon is about to release the annual certification lists of Technical Officials after summarising educational and event officiating results of 2023. 

NATIONAL FEDERATION SERVICES
NF Open Hours Kick-off in February
World Triathlon continues the bi-monthly virtual open hours with its respective members and kicks off the 2024 season on February 14-15. The first session will focus on development and will be dedicated to the 2024 continental development plans presented by the continental representatives.

Please join us and register for the Zoom meetings:
14 February (Wednesday) at 9:30 CET (English, French) Register here.
15 February (Thursday) at 16:30 CET (English, Spanish) Register here.

About the World Triathlon National Federation Open Hours: 
NFs Open Hours • World Triathlon

Membership Obligations 2024
World Triathlon calls its members to fulfill annual membership obligations (submit the 2023 NF Survey and 2023 financial statements and pay the membership fee) before 30 April 2024 to remain in Good Standing. Please contact us at federations@triathlon.org for any further details.

Stay updated on World Triathlon National Federation Services & Development
Contact us at development@triathlon.org or federations@triathlon.org