altOCTOBER 31 - SPAIN'S Marisol Casado (pictured) is set to replace Les McDonald as the president of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) after she was the only nominated candidate.

Britain's Sarah Springman, meanwhile, is one of four unopposed candidates to fill the vice-president's roles.

Casado, the President of the European Triathlon Union (ETU) and treasurer of the ITU, will be formally elected at the sport's ITU's 21st Congress in Madrid on November 29.

McDonald, a former British North-East shipyard worker who has lived in Canada since the 1950s, has been the controversial president of the ITU since it was founded in 1989.

McDonald, now 74, has survived allegations of alleging ballot-rigging and financial mismanagement but his biggest legacy will be getting the sport into the Olympics only 22 years after it was invented as the ironman event in Hawaii.

McDonald realised, though, he had to make it shorter, sharper and more appealing to television if it was to admitted to the Games. 

The Olympic event has a 1,500 metre swim, 40 kilometre ride and 10 kilometre run and is now an established part of the programme.

Tom Carrasco, from the Philipines, will replace Casado as treasurer while Loreen Barnett, a long-time close colleague of McDonald's, will become the ITU's first secretary general, switching from executive director in what is described as an "organisational change".

Springman, the inaugural president and chair of the British Triathlon Federation, will fill one of the four vice-president positions alongside Mexico's Antonio Alvarez, Australia's Bill Walker and South Korea's Kyung-Sun Yu.

Springman, a Cambridge University gradudate, was a leading elite triathlete for several years, winning the European title in 1988, before translating her competitive success into the administrative side of sport.

She previously served as a vice-president of the ITU from 1992 until 1996.

The most heated battle will be for the ITU's ruling Executive Board where 11 candidates are running for seven spots.

Also to be elected are the seven committees that make up ITU Council, including the technical committee, medical committee, constitution committee, women's committee, credentials committee, and duathlon committee.