Michael Dhulst: Pioneering a Digital Future for Triathlon
Reflecting on the tumultuous times brought upon us by the COVID pandemic, one can't help but marvel at the resilience and innovative spirit it awakened, particularly within the events industry.
The pandemic served as a harsh catalyst, yet from its challenges emerged novel ideas and opportunities ripe for the taking.
This thought is particularly front of mind as we gear up for the supertri E World Triathlon Championships powered by Zwift and set against the grand backdrop of the London Aquatic Centre at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
supertri E is one of sport’s most innovative and entertaining formats, blending real life with virtual racing. It's a format that not only captivates the world's elite athletes but also carves out a niche within the burgeoning Esports audience, delivering a spectacle of pure in-your-face intensity.
The genesis of such a hybrid triathlon environment, utilising technology such as Zwift, was a topic I'd been talking about for some time in private long before the world was gripped by the pandemic.
Like many entrepreneurial visions, it was a slow and windy path, hindered by the immediate priorities of potential collaborators.
COVID changed that. All of a sudden, we were all thrust into a different world. Stuck in our homes, unable to mix outdoors, many of us unable to even exercise outdoors with professional sport basically written off.
I knew we had an answer that played to our strengths of innovation and entertainment – and COVID accelerated it.
It aligned everything: the possibility to get pro athletes competing again, to develop a new product we could host, in an environment we could control, and to create a new product that could appeal both to an older demographic now stuck riding bikes in their apartments and garages as well as a younger demographic more interested in Esports.
Driven by a blend of necessity, vision and the passion of our founders to drive change and innovation in the sport, our team, compact yet fiercely dedicated, threw themselves into the unknown. Athletes, hungry for competition, and broadcasters, in search of genuine live sports, were quick to join our cause.
Our inaugural event, the then-named Arena Games Triathlon in Rotterdam, was approached with a blend of hope and apprehension. We thought this would work, both as a concept and technologically, but we can’t honestly say we knew for certain.
Yet we did it. We delivered an innovative racing experience, executed by a globally dispersed team navigating the complexities of pandemic restrictions and this new format was born.
Since then, it has grown from strength to strength, earning accolades and expanding globally, from London to Singapore, from Montreal to beyond and partnering with World Triathlon to now crown the official Esports World Champions.
It also has further room to grow.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is paying close attention to Esports. With the need to engage new young audiences in a way that traditional sports cannot always do, conversations are buzzing about the potential incorporation of Esports into the Olympic lineup in the near future.
Positioned at the forefront of that movement, we're vocal in our ambition to have our format recognised. Our participation in the IOC’s Olympic Esports Week—where our format again proved successful—underscores this aspiration.
Requiring nothing more than a swimming pool to set up, this format can reach audiences who wouldn’t want for various reasons to train outdoors. Looking ahead, we anticipate further developments such as racing virtually without the need for travel and facilitate widespread participation, both physically and digitally.
That something as awful as the COVID pandemic helped to accelerate something so new, so unique, and so innovative, and to be a part of that, is quite remarkable.
