I am the first to admit, that unless you are really into the sport, triathlon is not the most interesting spectator sport. The longer the event, the tougher it is to watch.  The upcoming Mixed Relay Triathlon at the Olympic Games, might be very different however. It should be very exciting to watch, even if you are not a big time triathlete.

The format for the event is listed above.  Each of the two men and two women in the team, completes a super sprint triathlon.  One of the women athletes goes first, and after completing the three disciplines, she will tag the first male, allowing him to take the next leg of the relay.  This repeats until we get to the final leg, which will be completed by the second male.

The super sprint format, means that the athletes will be going all out from the start.  Each leg will likely only take a little over twenty minutes to complete.  The whole event will be done in about 90 minutes.

There are 17 teams competing for the Gold medal.  We don’t yet know who is representing each country and in what order the athletes will compete.  The squad will be identified two days before the race, but the athlete order will only be finalized two hours before the race.  The nations most expected to battle for gold are Great Britain, France and the USA.

I can’t wait to watch the Mixed Relay Triathlon.  It will be happening at 6.30pm EST on Friday and it will be a great way to start the weekend.