What is Super League Triathlon? Your Guide to the 2022 Championship

Susan Lacke
·6 min read

This article originally appeared on Triathlete

Super League Triathlon is back! The self-proclaimed “World’s Fastest Triathlon Series” kicks off its five-race circuit September 4 in London, culminating with the final in Neom, Saudi Arabia October 29. With a thrilling, made-for-TV format, Super League races have become appointment viewing for triathlon enthusiasts, and you’ll be able to stream them all live for free on Outside Watch (O+ members will be able to access the replay on demand). So what exactly is Super League Triathlon? And what are these SLT Teams: the Sharks v. the Rhinos?

The Super League Format

First and foremost, Super League utilizes a number of new and exciting formats (more on these formats below)--which have become so popular since Super League rolled them out 2017 that now even World Triathlon has adopted some of the eliminator-style racing.

Part of the premise of Super League from its launch was to create a self-enclosed promotion, racing, and marketing system--ie. all the athletes are signed to contracts to guarantee their appearances at the Super League races (with plenty of money to back it up), and they then race short and unique formats that are well-promoted and televised. If the athletes are stars and the broadcasts are exciting, then people will watch and investors will make money. Chris McCormack, who co-founded Super League with Michael Dhulst, compares it to the high-stakes Formula 1 racing in Australia in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Read more on the launch and background: Super League Triathlon is Awesome In Theory--But Will It Work?

In order to do this, Super League utilizes a number of different kinds of race formats--which we’ve broken down below and which aren’t all contested at every event. All distances in every format are 300m swim, 5km bike, 2km run to keep things short and fast.

One more factor: Any athlete who falls more than 90 seconds off the leader on any lap is out of the race. And there are “short chutes”--ie. short cuts--that can be earned by hitting certain primes off the earlier legs or transitions.

(Also, yes, in case you were wondering, they are now required to wear shoes during the bike and run.)

There are four main formats that are contested at Super League events:

Triple Mix

Three stages of mini-triathlon, shuffling the order of the swim-bike-run on each stage. Athletes build up time in the first two stages, which determines their head starts in the final stage. First athlete across the line in the final stage wins.

  • Stage 1 -- Swim-bike-run (10-minute break)

  • Stage 2 -- Run-bike-swim (10-minute break)

  • Stage 3 -- Bike-swim-run (pursuit-style based on the times over the first two stages)

Equalizer

Stage 1 is an Individual Time Trial across an individual sport (whether bike or run or swim) that then determines the starting time gaps for the second stage. Stage 2 is a rapid swim-bike-run-swim-bike-run to be first across the line.

  • Stage 1 - Individual time trial

  • Stage 2 - Swim-bike-run-swim-bike-run

Enduro

One massive mini-triathlon, repeated three times with no breaks, to see who will emerge victorious. Fall more than 90 seconds behind at any lap and you’re done.

  • 3x (swim-bike-run)

Eliminator

The format Super League is best known for: athletes are eliminated at the end of each discipline and at the end of each mini-race--after the swim, bike, and at the finish. This goes on for three rounds, with athletes fighting hard enough to not be eliminated, but also managing their effort against fatigue.

  • Stage 1 - swim-bike-run (10-minute break)

  • Stage 2 - (Top 15 finishers from Stage 1) swim-bike-run (10-minute break)

  • Stage 3 - (Top 10 finishers from Stage 2) swim-bike-run

Each weekend of racing only utilizes one or two of these formats. So in London and Toulouse, athlete will compete over the Triple Mix; Munich and Neom will race the Enduro; Malibu will host the Eliminator.

What are Super League Teams?

New this year, Super League launched five teams--each managed by a legend of the sport (Chris McCormack, Tim Don, Ronnie Schildknecht, Annie Emerson, Michelle Dillon). The teams are made up of eight or nine athletes, depending on allocated wildcards and substitutions, with the top three men and three women earning points each race and each discipline’s leaderboard. The team drafts were broadcast on Youtube.

There is an additional $320,000 in prize money for the teams, and every athlete on the winning team earns an additional $15,000.

In case you were wondering, the teams are:

SLT Eagles

Non Stanford, Sian Rainsley, Sophia Green, Sara Roel, Matthew Hauser, Jamie Riddle, Daniel Dixon, Emil Holm

Bahrain Victorious Scorpions

Georgia Taylor-Brown, Alissa Konig, Emma Jeffcoat, Cathia Schar, Vincent Luis, Tyler Mislawchuk, Henri Schoeman, Kenji Nener

SLT Sharks

Beth Potter, Kate Waugh, Nicole vander Kaay, Julia Hauser, Hayden Wilde, Tayler Reid, Chase McQueen, Jonas Schomburg

SLT Cheetahs

Sophie Caldwell, Rachel Klamer, Verena Steinhauser, Miriam Casillas Garcia, Jonathan Brownlee, Marten Van Riel, Max Stapley, Shachar Sagiv

SLT Rhinos

Taylor Spivey, Natalie Van Coevorden, Jeanne Lehair, Hanne De Vet, Vasco Vilaca, Joao Pedro Silva, Sergio Baxter Cabrera, Valentin Wernz

RELATED: One-Hour Workout: Vasco Vilaca's Super League Run Speed Session

Super League 2022

One of the other things unique to this year is that Super League has signed athletes two months of racing: London, Munich, Malibu (where they’ve partnered with the celebrity popular Malibu Triathlon), Toulouse, and a championship event in Neom.

The top 15 athletes each weekend earn points towards the overall championship and towards each swim, bike, or run jersey--with $20,000 on the line for the winner of each at the end of the series. Between prize money for each event, overall championship and jersey prizes, as well as guarantees for every contracted athlete, there’s $1.8 million to be earned.

How to Watch

OK, so Super League all sounds very exciting. How do you watch?

  • London: Sunday, Sept. 4

  • Munich: Sunday, Sept. 11

  • Malibu: Saturday, Sept. 17

  • Toulouse: Sunday, Oct. 2

  • Neom: Saturday, Oct. 29

Broadcast times for each race will be announced on Triathlete social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) the week leading up to the race, as well as listed on Outside Watch, where all livestreams will be aired for free during the race; O+ members will be able to watch the replay on demand. You can also see all the broadcast options in every country on the Super League website.

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