An ultra-triathlon covers more distance than an ITU 'long course,' or Ironman™ triathlon. The term generally refers to all triathlon events with a distance that is a multiple of the Ironman Triathlon, which consists of 2.4 miles (3.86 km) of swimming, 112 miles (180.25 km) of cycling, and a full marathon (26.2 mi or 42.2 km) of running.^[1] The most common distances are the double, triple, quadruple, quintuple and deca triathlon.^[2] Unlike a standard triathlon event, an ultra-triathlon event may not necessarily involve the three component disciplines of triathlon (swimming, cycling and running) in direct consecutive order, but may instead consist of multiple consecutive individual triathlons performed on consecutive days,^[3] or may involve disciplines out of the usual order, such as the Enduroman that goes run-swim-bike to allow crossing of the English Channel.^[4]

The first ultra-distance race was held as a double in Huntsville, Alabama (USA) in 1985, and since then the distances have been expanding.^[5] While 20x and even 30x events have been held, the DECA, or 10x event, either in the 'continuous' version (swim-bike-run), or in the 'one-per-day' version is typically the longest distance that can be found on the race calendar every year.^[2] In 2020 and 2022, the swissultra DECA continuous was the IUTA World Championship over that distance.^[6][7]

The IUTA (International Ultra Triathlon Association) is the official governing body of Ultra Triathlon.^[8]

Standard distances

World records

Men

Distance	Athlete	Time	Place
Single	Kristian Blummenfelt	7 h 21 m 12 s	2021 Cozumel[9]
Double	Robert Karaś	18 h 44 m 38 s	2019 Panevėžys[10]
3x	Robert Karaś	30 h 48 m 57 s	2018 Lensahn[11]
4x	Søren Højbjerre	53 h 41 m 00 s	1993 Szekesfehervar[10]
5x	Adrian Kostera	67 h 45 m 51 s	2022 Colmar[10]
5x Day	Rait Ratasepp	49 h 32 m 49 s	2022 Buchs[10]
10x	Kenneth Vanthuyne	182 h 43 m 43 s	2022 Buchs[10]
10x Day	Richard Jung	106 h 11 m 53 s	2016 Buchs[10]
20x	Vidmantas Urbonas	437 h 21 m 40 s	1998 Monterrey[10]
20x Day	Norbert Lüftenegger	241 h 36 m 45 s	2019 Buchs[10]
30x	Dirk Leonhardt	959 h 03 m 00 s	2020 Bruchköbel[12]
30x Day	Jozsef Rokob	356 h 33 m 17 s	2013 Lonato del Garda[10]

Women

Distance	Athlete	Time	Place
Single	Chrissie Wellington	8 h 18 m 13 s	2011 Roth[13]
Double	Alicja Pyszka-Bazan	23 h 12 m 02 s	2023 Colmar[10]
3x	Mareile Hertel	37 h 18 m 17 s	2019 Lensahn[10]
4x	Astrid Benöhr	59 h 15 m 00 s	1993 Szekesfehervar[10]
5x	Alexandra Meixner	84 h 44 m 29 s	2018 Buchs[10]
5x Day	Eva Hürlimann	66 h 52 m 22 s	2018 Buchs[10]
10x	Christine Couldrey	247 h 07 m 21 s	2018 New Orleans[10]
10x Day	Alexandra Meixner	137 h 23 m 43 s	2022 Buchs[10]
20x	Laura Knoblach	633 h 41 m 39 s	2019 León[14]
20x Day	Alexandra Meixner	279 h 37 min 48 s	2016 Buchs[10]

References

External links

• International Ultra Triathlon Association