The Duathlon World Championships are held on an annual basis and consist of a 10km run, 40km cycle and 5km run. At Elite level, the cycling is draft legal.

Although many athletes specialise in duathlon, there is also a lot of crossover with triathletes looking to improve their run speed and bike power. Events tend to be held in the spring or autumn so as not to clash with summer triathlon races.

Since 2017, the Duathlon World Championships have been a central element of the annual World Triathlon Multisport Championships, Benoit Nicolas (FRA) and Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) winning the world titles at the first edition that year in Penticton, USA.

Denmark’s Andreas Schilling and Austria’s Sandrina Illes were crowned champions at the event in Fyn in 2018, then in 2019 it was the French who dominated, with Benjamin Choquert and Sandra Levenez producing the gold-medal performances when it mattered. In 2022 it was to Targu Mures, Romania, that the world’s best duathletes headed and for the third edition running it was a Frenchman taking the title, Krilan le Bihan winning thanks to an excellent bike segment, Joselyn Abreu retaining the women’s title for Venezuela. Targu Mures 2022 also saw the first ever 2x2 Duathlon Mixed Relay World titles up for grabs, Belgium’s Arnaud Dely and Maurine Ricour taking the gold.

The 2024 World Duathlon Championships will be hosted in Townsville, Australia, as part of the 2024 World Triathlon Multisport Championships.