Star Production will organise TriStar races under ITU rules whilst working with the organisation's national federations.

The official recognition of the TriStar races, which can be either a one kilometre swim, 100km bike and 10km run or a 2km swim, 100km bike and 20km run, will be ingrained into ITU rules at its congress in Beijing this September.

Marisol Casado, President of the ITU and a member of the International Olympic Committee, said: "Recognising TriStar's distances under ITU rules is another exciting step for triathlon's future.

"Triathlon is a dynamic and exciting sport that, at its heart, is about performing across three disciplines - swim, bike and run, regardless of the distance.

"It's very promising for the entire sport of triathlon to have organisations come together and working toward a common goal of developing the sport worldwide."

Georg Hochegger, chief executive of Star Production SARL, added: "We are sure that triathlon can become one of the most popular sports in the near future due to its natural specificities including swim, bike and run, which everyone can do and learn to practice from childhood.

"Nowadays endurance sport receives more attention than ever and this also means we need to work on ideas to grow our sport and build enthusiasm.

"Accepting our new distances within the Triathlon family just shows that we are on the good way to develop the sport together, whatever the topic."

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