His Highness Prince Fahad Bin Jalawi Al Saud, Vice President of the Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee, has been elected as the new President of Asia Triathlon during the Congress held in Gamagori (Japan) on Friday, June 23. Prince Fahad was the only candidate for the position, and will now also take a seat on the World Triathlon Executive Board as the Continental President.

A total of 31 Asian countries participated in Congress, hosted on a hybrid mode so National Federations could attend either in person or remotely. Tomas Carrasco (PHI) and Chiu Nam Chau (HKG) were elected Vice Presidents, and Masa Takaya (JPN) was named Secretary General. World Triathlon’s Secretary General, Antonio Fernandez Arimany, was also present at Congress, giving an update on World Triathlon’s recent activities and plans for the upcoming seasons.

“We are delighted to welcome Prince Fahad as the new President of Asia Triathlon and also to the World Triathlon Executive Board. The commitment and dedication that he has shown in the last months has proven to be great for his National Federation and also for the region, and it will be great to see our sport in Asia continue to expand, achieving new goals under his leadership”, said Marisol Casado, World Triathlon President and IOC Member.

Hosted during the Olympic Day, the Congress also elected Elena Lyzhina Polchenkova (KYR), Janqiu QIN (CHN),Rakesh Gupta (IND), Paul Rachmadi (SGP)Tarep Kayyat (JOR), Abdulla Abdulsalam (BAH) and Mahdi Goudharzi (IRN) as Board Members.

After Congress, the Japanese city also hosted the 2023 Asia Triathlon U23 and Junior Championships Gamagori, where Robin Elg (HKG), Meiyi Lu (CHN), Alexandr Ten (KAZ) and Manami Hayashi (JPN) were crowned champions, while Team Hong Kong China won the U23/Juniors Mixed Relay competition.

During the first meeting of the newly elected Executive Board, also hosted on Saturday, June 24, President Fahad appointed Tom Carrasco as Senior Vice President and Melody Tan as the Technical Committee Chair.

The Board also decided to create the AST Strategy Committee, which is composed of the two Vice Presidents -Tom Carrasco and Chiu Nam Chau-, Secretary General Masa Takaya, EB Member Tareq Khayyat and World Triathlon Secretary General Antonio Arimany.

A handover process was also discussed during the EB, with the next meeting of the new Board set to take place early in August.