As 2018 comes to a close we take a look back at some of the highlights of the triathlon calendar over the past year.

January

The excitement of a new year and whilst many would just be ramping up the off-season miles the Great Britain Winter Triathlon Age-Group team took 12 athletes to the ITU World Championships in Romania picking up 7 medals!

The official announcement of the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham and Eton Dorney ITU Paratriathlon World Cup also added excitement of what was to come in 2018.

February

On the elite circuit Vicky Holland put a lengthy period of injury firmly behind her with a win at the Cape Town ITU Triathlon World Cup as British Triathlon was recognised with a nomination for Governing Body of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards (alongside the ECB, RFU and EFL).

March

Jess Learmonth was one of the few to come through unscathed in a eventful World Triathlon Series opener in Abu Dhabi and was rewarded with a 2^nd place – the month only continued to get better for Jess as she was awarded ‘ETU Female Athlete of the Year’ whilst there was further recognition for Sarah Taylor-Hough as ‘ETU Technical Official of the Year’.

At the British Duathlon Championship Adam Bowden used his experience to return his British Duathlon title, whilst Georgina Schwiening used her impressive running to power to the women's title - there were youth, junior, paraduathlon and Age-Group British titles decided in Bedford too.

April

Paratriathlon made it’s debut at the Commonwealth Games with Jade Jones-Hall and Joe Townsend winning the maiden titles for Team England. There was medals for Jess Learmonth (Silver) and Marc Austin (Bronze) in the individual event, whilst the Team England quartet of Holland, J. Brownlee, Learmonth and A. Brownlee picked silver behind the hosts Australia in the Mixed Relay.

Commonwealth champion Flora Duffy comfortably secured the win on home soil at the first ever world series event in Bermuda. A sprint between Vicky Holland and Katie Zaferes for the remaining podium positions resulted in a photo finish narrowly won by the Briton.

April also saw the launch of #TriLikeMe, an ongoing campaign which highlights the experiences of the triathlon community at permitted events across the country.

May

Yokohama hosted the top the opening round of the World Paratriathlon Series where the Great Britain team secured seven medals from seven starts, together with Non Stanford stepping onto a ITU World Triathlon Series podium for the first time in over two years as the Olympic qualification period for Tokyo 2020 opened in Japan.

British Triathlon put their full support behind UKAD’s Clean Sport week with 'Education in Testing Sessions' alongside a number of events to help raise awareness of clean sport and anti-doping programmes at all levels of the sport.

Britain’s elite paratriathletes won nine gold medals as Eton Dorney hosted an ITU World Cup event for the first time. It was a big day for some emerging athletes, including Britain’s Hannah Moore who won PTS4 gold just a year after trying her first paratriathlon.

June

The ITU World Series rolled into town starting with the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Nottingham with Team USA taking gold ahead of Great Britain. With the Mixed Team Relay set to debut at the 2020 Olympics, the mass participation events further centred around teamwork and featured the Accenture Mixed Team Challenge formats.

The spotlight then headed to Leeds with the city hosting a world series event for the third consecutive year. The 2018 event hosted both the biggest GO TRI event to date and the British Age-Group Standard Distance Championships prior to the elite event, where Vicky Holland delighted a home crowd with the win and Georgia Taylor-Brown secured a break though silver medal as over 60,000 spectators came out to support across the weekend.

Cardiff Triathlon hosted the British Elite Triathlon Championships at which Adam Bowden and Sophie Alden were crowned 2018 champions.

Additionally British Triathlon announced the launch of its first Volunteering Plan which will aim to create a world-leading volunteer pathway that recruits, supports and recognises volunteers operating across the sport.

Part Two