The Gold Coast has previously hosted the World Championship races on two occasions, in 1991 and 2009, and the coastal city marked their returned to the World Triathlon Series this year, having not hosted a series event since they last hosted the Grand Final six years ago.

The city is expected to host World Triathlon Series events in 2016 and 2017, before elite and age group athletes compete for World Championship titles in 2018, the same year in which the city will become hosts of the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games.

“This is a fantastic result for Queensland and triathlon, we are very excited to be able to host the world’s best ITU age group and professional athletes here on the Gold Coast,” said Ironman  Asia-Pacific chief executive Geoff Meyer.

Additionally the Executive Board meeting, which saw the confirmation of the British city of Leeds as hosts of a World Triathlon Series led in 2016, saw the hosts of several championship events decided.

Penticton in Canada was awarded the inaugural 2017 Multisport World Championships Festival, with the city of Odense located on Denmark’s third largest island, Fyn, set to host the second edition the following year.

"We are extremely honoured to be chosen to host the 2017 Multisport World Championships,” said Penticton race director Michael Brown.

“Penticton has a deep history in triathlon and we look to build on a strong foundation created by this great community."

The week-long festival will see aquathlon, duathlon, long distance triathlon and cross triathlon championship races, with the event allowing athletes to compete in various multisport races, as opposed to electing only one each season.

"The Danish Triathlon Federation loves the concept behind the ITU Multisport Festival 2018,” said Morten Fenger, chief executive of the Danish Triathlon Federation.

“We look forward to cooperating with ITU, Sport Event Denmark, Sport Event Fyn and not least the local triathlon clubs and to staging four different World Championships in a week.

“We also look forward to putting even more focus on triathlon in Denmark and displaying Denmark and Fyn to the international world of triathlon.

“Last but not least, we are pleased to show that triathlon is much more than a half and a full ironman competition.”

Lake Crackenback in Australia was confirmed as the site of the 2016 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships in the final year before the Multisport Festival.

The ITU are shortly set to release bidding conditions for the 2016 Triathlon World Cup events, the 2017 World Triathlon Series races, the 2019 World Triathlon Grand Final, and the 2019 Multisport Festival.

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September 2014:  Gold Coast added to expanded calendar for 2015 World Triathlon Series