Overview
The ITU was formed in 1989, and organizes official world championship series races for the sport of triathlon. It was formed in part to give the growing sport of triathlon an official organizing body and in part to advocate for the entry of triathlon into the Olympic games.
The primary ITU race series is the short-course or Olympic distance Triathlon World Cup and World Triathlon Series. The distances for the ITU world cup races are 1500 m swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run. They were chosen from existing swim, bike, and run distances already in the Olympic games. This distance of triathlon has become one of the primary standards in the world of triathlon.
More recently, the ITU created a long distance race circuit with official world championships. Long Distance Triathlon races are very similar in length to Ironman Triathlon races owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation.
The ITU also sanctions and organizes official Aquathlon (swim-run), Duathlon (run-bike-run) and Winter triathlon championships.
Read more about this topic: International Triathlon Union