Among the most exciting aspects of the races for spectators is the athletes’ dramatic sprint and dive after being tagged by their teammate, as well as the intensity and speed from start to finish, with tight, back-and-forth lead changes and team pride the hallmarks of the events.

The very first World Triathlon Triathlon Team Mixed Relay World Championships was held in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 2009 when the powerful Swiss team claimed the inaugural title. In 2013, the World Championships were hosted in Hamburg for the first time, the German city rapidly becoming the format’s spiritual home and hosting every year since except for Montreal 2022.

The entertaining format was soon embraced around the world and was included in major Games programmes such as the Youth Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games before it was finally announced that Triathlon Mixed Relay would make its Olympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020.

Before then, in 2019, the first ever Team Mixed Relay World Series saw four races take place - in Abu Dhabi, Nottingham, Hamburg and Edmonton. France defended their world title in Hamburg, and went on to win gold at the Tokyo Test Event.

However, it was to be the Great Britain squad that took the first ever Olympic gold, with Jonathan Brownlee, Jessica Learmonth, Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown combining for glory, USA taking the silver and France the bronze.

At Paris 2024, it was the reigning World Champions Team Germany who won the format's second ever Olympic golds, Laura Lindemann bringing it home along with teammates Lisa Tertsch, Tim Hellwig and Lasse Luhrs.