USA Triathlon

November, 14, 2020 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run  Age Group Draft-Legal Entry Fee: Now to June 1 = $105 June 2 to Sept. 1 = $120 Sept. 2 to Nov. 11= $130 Location: Tempe, AZ #NCAATRI #USATDLTRI

COVID-19 Update as of August 26

USA Triathlon works closely with local authorities and plans to make decisions and communicate those decisions in advance of each scheduled event. USA Triathlon and the College Triathlon Coaches Association (CTCA) Board of Directors announced on July 31 that the fall 2020 varsity women’s collegiate triathlon season has been canceled due to ongoing precautions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the 2020 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon Championships has been canceled.

USA Triathlon and the CTCA are exploring the potential feasibility of hosting a varsity women’s collegiate triathlon season in the spring of 2021, and additional details will be communicated at a later date.

USA Triathlon Draft-Legal Sprint Triathlon National Championships

The 2020 USA Triathlon Age Group Draft-Legal National Championships, initially scheduled to take place Nov. 14 in Tempe, Arizona, have been rescheduled to April 2021 — as a World Qualifier rather than a National Championship — due to ongoing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Age Group Draft-Legal Nationals were set to be held as part of ASU’s Sun Devil Draft-Legal Classic, in conjunction with the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships. Due to continued limits on mass gatherings in the Tempe and Phoenix areas, ASU and USA Triathlon determined that the age group event can no longer take place in 2020.

The 2020 Age Group Draft-Legal Nationals would have qualified top finishers for the 2021 ITU Age Group Sprint Triathlon World Championships, slated for next October in Bermuda. The rescheduled World Qualifier event will take place April 9, 2021, in Tempe, in conjunction with the USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships. While no longer considered a National Championship, the Age Group Draft-Legal World Qualifier will qualify top finishers in each age group to represent Team USA at the 2021 ITU Age Group Sprint Triathlon Worlds.

Separately, a 2021 Age Group Draft-Legal National Championships will be held next fall, with the date and location to be determined. That event will qualify top finishers for the 2022 ITU Age Group Sprint Triathlon World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

2020 Sun Devil Draft Legal Classic Events

USA Triathlon Draft-Legal Sprint Triathlon National Championships
750m Swim (1 Lap)/ 20k Bike (3 Laps)/ 5km Run (1 Lap)

USAT Women’s Collegiate Triathlon Championship (Division I, Division II and Division III) - Canceled 
750m Swim (1 Lap)/ 20k Bike (3 Laps) / 5km Run (2 Laps)

Event Location

The events will be hosted at Tempe Town Lake North Park, Arizona's second-most visited public attraction. The more than 2-mile long Tempe Town Lake features a system of trails allowing people to walk, jog, bike and sightsee along its edges. It's also a great place for electric, wind and human-powered boats. Hundreds of community events are held in and around the park year-round.

Team USA Qualification (Age Group)

Age Group athletes will have the opportunity to qualify for the 2020 ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton, Canada through the Sun Devil Draft Legal Classic.

For the 2020 ITU World Championships, USA Triathlon will reserve up to ten (10) spots for women and up to ten (10) for men in each aged up age group at this event. In order to be eligible to claim his/her ITU World Championship spot, each qualifying athlete must place within the top 10 in their age group AND be within the noted finish time broken down by a percentage by age group at this event, which is indicated in Table 1 shown below.

Athletes will compete in this event based on age as of December 31, 2020.

Note that because athlete’s eligibility to claim an ITU World Championship spot at this event is based on results from the USAT Age Group Sprint Triathlon National Championship, it is possible that not all 10 spots in each age group will be filled (meaning some people will miss the time back qualification).

• Example 1: Joe Thomas competes in the 15-19 male category at the Draft Legal Qualifier/Nationals in Tempe.  He finishes in eight place in his age group in a time of one hour flat (60:00).  The winning time in his age group was 57 minutes (57:00).  The difference between the two times is 5%.  Joe has met both criteria – finish place within the top ten in his AG and the 19.87% time differential between the winner’s time and his finish time.
• Example 2: John Jay finishes 11th in the 50-54 aged-up age group, only 4% back of the first place finish time in his age group. Even if he was within the qualifying percent of the top finisher’s time in the age group according to the table published by USAT, John would not be eligible for a world championship spot since he was not among the top ten finishers in his age group.
• Example 3: Janice Field, competing in the 20-24 age group,  places 9th in her age group with a time that is 12% behind her age group’s top finisher.  She would earn the spot based on her meeting both the finish place and time qualification (14.1%) for her age group.  If she had been (11th) eleventh place, she wouldn’t have met qualification.

Table 1

In order to be eligible to claim an ITU World Championship spot, each qualifying athlete must place within the top 10 in their age group at the 2019 ITU Draft-Legal Sprint Triathlon World Championship Qualifier/National Championship AND be within the noted finish time broken down by a percentage by age group at this event. These percentages were calculated based on the difference in time between the fastest finisher in each age group at the Age Group National Championship in Cleveland and the person earning the last possible spot on the team (18^th place). 

For any questions, please email teamusa@usatriathlon.org.