Donnerstag, 5. Oktober 2017

Red Bull TV with global live coverage of IRONMAN Triathlon World Championships

TAMPA, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2017) – IRONMAN, a Wanda Sports Holdings company, announced today that the 2017 IRONMAN®World Championship will be broadcast internationally (outside of the United States) on Red Bull TV. Over nine hours of full race coverage from Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i on October 14, 2017 will be available across multiple platforms both live and on demand, making the race accessible to a global audience like never before.

 “This is an extremely exciting year for our incredible professional athletes and fans of the sport as we broaden the broadcast of this extraordinary event,” said Christopher Stadler, Chief Marketing Officer for IRONMAN. “Through this partnership with Red Bull TV, we have taken another major step forward in bringing the IRONMAN World Championship event to an international audience.” 

The IRONMAN World Championship broadcast will be hosted by legendary IRONMAN World Champion and Grand Slam of Triathlon winner Greg Welch (AUS) and multiple IRONMAN Champion Michael Lovato (USA) and will also feature field reporters Matt Lieto (USA) and Charlie Webster (GBR).

The live-action will include new camera angles and aerial imagery and Red Bull TV will have four exclusive 30-minute Facebook Live feeds from varied points on the course. The coverage will put viewers in the heart of the action, while behind-the scenes stories will draw them even closer to the endurance stars chasing the crown on Hawai`i Island’s lava fields.

In addition, IRONMAN: Quest for Kona will now be featured on Red Bull TV internationally (outside of the U.S.). For years, thousands of spectators have witnessed the awe-inspiring live action of the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawai`i in person or through streaming on IRONMAN.com.

This year with addition of Red Bull TV, the 2017 race will reach its largest international audience ever, bringing the raw power and competitive nature of the top endurance athletes in the world, as well as some of the most extraordinary and impactful stories of courage and determination from the age-group athletes and everyday individuals competing alongside them.

Tune in to www.redbull.tv/ironman for coverage of the 2017 IRONMAN World Championship including full live coverage on Saturday, October 14, 2017. Red Bull TV is distributed digitally as an app across mobile phones, tablets, consoles, OTT devices and Smart TVs. If you’re in the United States, tune in to www.ironman.com for live coverage of the event.

Samstag, 10. Juni 2017

IOC includes the Triathlon Mixed Relays on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The team around Marisol Casado, International Triathlon Union's President has reached another milestone in development and recognition of endurance sport Triathlon. After a long lobbying and team effort Triathlon Mixed Relays will be introduced into the Olympic program for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
"ITU is pleased to announce that the Triathlon Mixed Relays has been included on the Programme for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee announced on Friday June 9 the new events added for the next Olympics, which will be Triathlon Mixed Relays, Basketball 3x3, Archery Mixed Team event, 4x400 mixed relays in athletics, BMX freestyle Park, Madison in Cycling, team events in fencing, mixed team event in judo, mixed doubles in table tennis and 4x100m medley mixed relay in swimming.


In August 2020, the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo will host the third triathlon event during the next Olympics, giving triathletes the possibility to earn another Olympic medal. The Mixed Relays will represent a catalyst on the promotion of women athletes within all NOCs around the world, as it completely fulfils the Agenda 2020 requirements.

Marisol Casado, President of ITU and IOC Member, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this decision. We’ve been pushing for the Mixed Relays to be included in the Programme for quite a long time, as it is an event that gives the sport something very important: a sense of team building. But most important, is an event that demonstrates that women and men can compete together but both are equally important to the success of the team.


IOC President, Mr Thomas Bach, said: The fascinating new vents that we approved today, together with the five new sports that were added to the Tokyo 2020 programme last year, represent a step-change in the Olympic programme. I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women”.

The Mixed Relays is one of the most thrilling events in triathlon, with teams of two men and two women completing each a short-course triathlon (300m swim, 8km bike, 2km run) before tagging off to their teammate to take over. With its rapid and unpredictable format, athletes love it and spectators enjoy it both onsite and on television, making it one of the most spectacular formats of the circuit.

With no extra athletes needed to be added to the Olympic Programme, and lots of extra excitement ensured, the Mixed Relays are also backed by triathlon fans and event organizers around the world. “It will be amazing if we could have two opportunities to get a medal at the Olympic Games,” said American Gwen Jorgensen. An Olympic winner herself in Rio 2016, she was one of the first triathletes backing ITU’s proposal of including the Mixed Relays on the Olympic Programme for Tokyo 2020. Hundreds of triathletes around the world, National Federations and Organizers of events have also joined the campaign.

“It was great to have the current Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee; Olympic silver medalist Jonathan Brownlee; ITU World Champion Non Stanford and current ITU World Champion Flora Duffy announcing this exciting news, as part of the athletes commitment with the gender equality policies we always support and encourage at ITU. We are proud that this message was given by our athletes to all the triathlon fans around the world, and also to the Olympic family”, said Casado.

The energetic, exciting, uncompromising and action-packed format also appeals tremendously to youth, as the Mixed Relay format showcases Triathlon to a new generation.

The excitement and drama of the Mixed Relay also makes it a marketable, spectator-friendly discipline that is dramatic viewing for television spectators and digital media.  Indeed, the Mixed Relay has massive engagement across media, with over 7 million TV spectators worldwide, 19 television outlets airing the World Championships, and 250,000 spectators lining the streets each year to enjoy live the Mixed Relays Worlds.

The Mixed Relays are already included in the programme of the Youth Olympic Games, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, and have been recently added on the programme for the PanAmerican Games to be held in Lima 2018. The next World Championship will be held in Hamburg (Germany) on July 16.

Every year, over 60 countries organise Mixed Relay events, each with an average of 25 teams participating. A thrilling and engaging format in which National Federations are challenged to develop Triathlon for women and men equally across all levels of participation.  It also provides Triathletes with the opportunity to win more than one medal at the Olympics.

We are delighted to welcome another event, the Mixed Relays, to the Olympic races, and we are sure that with its unpredictable drama and the display of team pride, the Triathlon Mixed Relay format is a perfect fit for the Olympics." [1]
  1. IOC includes the Triathlon Mixed Relays on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

DTU begrüßt IOC-Entscheidung zur Triathlon-Mixed-Staffel Präsident Prof. Engelhardt: „Haben der Welt gezeigt, wie attraktiv dieses Format ist“

Die Deutsche Triathlon Union (DTU) begrüßt die Aufnahme der gemischten Team-Staffel als neues Rennformat bei Olympia in Tokio 2020 und schließt sich den Glückwünschen an das Lobby-Team der International Triathlon Union (ITU) um Marisol Casado und Thomas Bach in seiner Funktion als Präsident des International Olympic Commitee IOC an.
"Die Deutsche Triathlon Union (DTU) begrüßt die gestrige Entscheidung des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees (IOC), die Mixed-Staffel als zusätzliche Medaillenentscheidung in das Programm der Olympischen Spiele in Tokio 2020 aufzunehmen. „Wir sind überaus erfreut über die Entscheidung des IOC, insbesondere da wir bei diesem Event in den vergangenen Jahren einige internationale Erfolge feiern konnten“, erklärt DTU-Präsident Prof. Dr. Martin Engelhardt in einem ersten Statement. Die Mixed-Staffel der DTU wurde 2013 in Hamburg Weltmeister und gewann im vergangenen Jahr an der Alster vor Zehntausenden Zuschauern die Bronzemedaille.

Jonathan Zipf, Gregor Buchholz, Hanna Philippin und Laura Lindemann (von links) zählten in Hamburg zu den erfolgreichen Mitgliedern der gemischten Staffel, den Mixed Team Relays der DTU. Photo: DTU/Jo Kleindl

Olympische Chance für den Nachwuchs
„Wir sind auch ein stückweit stolz, denn durch die erfolgreiche Durchführung der Mixed-Team-Weltmeisterschaften in Hamburg haben wir der Welt in den vergangenen Jahren gezeigt, was für ein aufregendes und attraktives Event dieser Wettbewerb ist“, so Engelhardt weiter. „Die Entscheidung des IOC gibt auch unserem im Leistungssportbereich eingeschlagenen Weg, nämlich auf den Nachwuchs zu setzen, einen weiteren Schub. Die kurzen Distanzen kommen den jüngeren Athleten entgegen. Mit der Mixed-Staffel gibt es nun einen Grund mehr, sich auf Tokio vorzubereiten und dort vielleicht sogar um Medaillen mitkämpfen zu können.“

Engelhardt dankt IOC-Präsident Bach und ITU-Präsidentin Casado
„Wir möchten dem IOC und insbesondere seinem Präsidenten, Dr. Thomas Bach, danken, der seit vielen Jahren ein großer Unterstützer des Triathlonsports ist und in den 1990er Jahren maßgeblich daran beteiligt war, dass Triathlon überhaupt olympisch wurde“ sagte Engelhardt. „Aber auch die Präsidentin der Internationalen Triathlon Union (ITU), Marisol Casado, und ihr Team sollen nicht unerwähnt bleiben, die in den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten unermüdlich für die Aufnahme der Mixed-Team-Staffel in das olympische Programm gekämpft haben.“

Die Mixed-Team-Staffel mit je zwei Damen und Herren wird in Tokio eine von drei Triathlon-Medaillenentscheidungen. Ausgetragen werden die Olympischen Spielen vom 24. Juli bis zum 9. August 2020." [1]

  1. Pressemeldung DTU