Multisport

Multisport is a year-round sport and outdoor activity for competitive purposes. It is also an Olympic discipline. The name comes from the word “multi” (many) and "sport".

During multisport, you participate in several sports at once, one at a time. For example, in a triathlon, perhaps its most popular multisport, you first swim 300 meters in the open water, then ride a bike for 8 km, and then run 2 km. All figures are in the standard program, but they can be much longer. The athlete who overcomes the total distance faster than the others wins. Other popular types of multisport are duathlon (running, cycling, running), swimrun (multiple swim and run), and others.

During competitions, multisport activities are carried out in specially designated and, as a rule, prepared for it places, but during training, you choose the place yourself. Usually, the places coincide with the spots and routes for other activities on the condition that they can be combined. In the case of a triathlon, you need at least a lake or river and a long road next to it, as free from traffic as possible, on which you can ride and run. In Italy, for example, people do triathlon on the shores of Garda Lake.

Multisport is a year-round activity. The most popular types of winter multisport are biathlon (cross-country skiing, rifle shooting), winter triathlon (running, cycling, cross-country skiing), and others. It's also better suited for the off-season than the hot summers and cold winters, given the long distances of training and competition.

The main pleasure of multisport is overcoming yourself and the discovery of new physical and moral possibilities. This sport is considered an endurance activity. Its main difficulties in the format of the competition are the need to exercise for many hours in a row, which unprepared athletes can’t do. For example, a long-distance triathlon is 4 km of swimming, 120 km of biking, and 30 km of running — many times more than standard one.

Text: Ivan Kuznetsov

Cover photo: Quino Al / Unsplash