Triathlon, the fastest growing sport in the U.S. Olympic Movement, received overwhelming approval last year from the NCAA Division I Legislative Council to be the next Emerging Sport for Women, creating new opportunities within the Olympic pipeline for student-athletes.
An emerging sport is a sport recognized by the NCAA that is intended to explore new sports and grow participation opportunities for female student-athletes. Institutions are allowed to use emerging sports to help meet the NCAA minimum sports sponsorship requirements, minimum financial aid award requirements, and gender equity standards. Four former emerging sports have grown in sponsorship and been approved as NCAA championship sports — water polo, bowling, ice hockey and rowing.
USA Triathlon has led the effort to include triathlon as an NCAA sport since 2010. Nearly 200 schools currently have club triathlon programs and USA Triathlon has held Collegiate National Championships since 1992. Triathlon was added to the Olympic program in 1994 and made its debut at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
For more information about this initiative please see the link below to USA Triathlon