Explaining Olympic Triathlon Mixed Relay

PARIS — The fast, fun and exciting Triathlon Mixed Relay is the next and final Olympic triathlon event on the schedule at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The U.S. Olympic Mixed Relay team will race at 8 a.m. Monday in Paris (2 a.m. ET, 11 p.m. PT, Sunday, Aug. 4). Morgan Pearson, Taylor Knibb, Seth Rider and Taylor Spivey make up the team, aiming for the country’s second medal in the event’s Olympic history.

The Mixed Relay made its thrilling Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the U.S. team of Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell, Knibb and Pearson taking home silver.

HOW TO WATCH THE OLYMPIC MIXED RELAY

The Olympic Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on Peacock TV. Live coverage begins at 2 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 5/11 p.m. PT, Sunday Aug. 4).

For the full Olympic schedule, visit www.nbcolympics.com.

WHAT IS TRIATHLON MIXED RELAY?

In mixed relay, every country has a team of two men and two women, with each athlete completing a swim, bike, run super-sprint triathlon. For Olympians, this takes about 20 minutes. Athletes complete their triathlon leg and tag their teammate, making for a dramatic and exciting event. Strategy and short-course speed are key to these events.  

In Paris, teams will race in the order of man-woman-man-woman. Great Britain won gold in Tokyo, the U.S. the silver and France the bronze.

This relatively new discipline began in 2009 when the first World Championships were held in Des Moines, Iowa. A year later the mixed relay made its debut at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, and in 2017, it was announced the mixed relay would make its Olympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020. 

In addition to the Olympic silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, the U.S. has won several medals at the Mixed Relay World Championships, including the world title in 2016:  

2013: Bronze (Sarah Groff, Ben Kanute, Gwen Jorgensen, Cameron Dye)

2016: Gold (Gwen Jorgensen, Ben Kanute, Kirsten Kasper, Joe Maloy)

2017: Silver (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Matthew McElroy)

2018: Bronze (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell)

2020: Silver (Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Katie Zaferes, Morgan Pearson)

2022: Bronze (Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Summer Rappaport)

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE COMPETING?

Countries qualified through designated qualifying relay races or by having two women and two men qualified for the individual races. The countries at the 2024 Games are:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Brazil
• France
• Great Britain
• Germany
• Italy
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Spain
• Switzerland
• USA

To learn more about Team USA's journey to the Olympics, visit Making Team USA, presented by Xfinity!