ITU rebrands Triathlon World Championship Series to World Triathlon Series

The International Triathlon Union (ITU), in collaboration with its global marketing partner Upsolut Sports, today announced it has rebranded its World Championship Series and modified the sponsorship structure. To create a stronger and cleaner brand, the series will be  re-titled  the  ITU World Triathlon Series.

Much like the IOC’s TOP sponsorship programme, the ITU World Triathlon Series will feature two main sponsors, Dextro Energy and Samsung, and four category sponsors including Suunto and SKINS.

“This new structure not only gives our premier series a cleaner image, it also gives us greater flexibility to raise the profile of the series and increase its commercial success,” said Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC Member.

The 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series kicks off in April in Sydney, Australia.   With eight events in eight different countries, the 2012 ITU World Champions will be crowned at the Grand Final in Auckland, New Zealand.

2012 ITU World Triathlon Series:

• April 14-15: Sydney (Australia)
• May 12-13: San Diego (USA)
• May 26-27: Madrid (Spain)
• June 23-24: Kitzbühel (Austria)
• July 21-22: Hamburg (Germany)
• August 25-26: Lausanne (Switzerland)
• September 29-30: Yokohama (Japan)
• October 20-22: Grand Final Auckland (New Zealand)

In 2011 the series doubled its media figures compared to 2010. The total TV broadcast time was 917 hours; the coverage reached an audience of 207-million worldwide and made 4,592-billion FASPO contacts. The events had more than 1-million spectators while 27,500 participants competed in the age-group races. Christian Toetzke, CEO of Upsolut Sports says: “The popularity of the ITU World Triathlon Series gets bigger and bigger and we’re sure there’s still huge growth potential. Everybody who ever tried triathlon will do it again.”

The ITU World Triathlon Series was launched in 2009, expanding the former single-day World Championship race.   Points are accrued throughout the season and athletes who win the overall series are crowned the ITU World Champions.