The best of swim, bike, and run — watch these world athletes compete on the Olympic stage in triathlons, marathons, decathlons, and more.
The marathon stands as perhaps the most iconic physical challenge of all. It dates all the way back to the 5th-century legend in which the Greek messenger Pheidippides was said to have run from Marathon to Athens, Greece, to deliver news of the victory of the battle of Marathon.
The distance was roughly 40 km, or as we know it today, 26.2 miles. And sadly, he’s said to have died after delivering the news.
Running (now the athletics category) was a key sport in the ancient Olympics and one of the original modern Olympic events in the first Games in 1896. This was alongside cycling and swimming, which have been featured in every single summer Olympics since.
Swim, bike, run. (The only other sports included in every run of the Games are fencing and gymnastics.)
Learn a bit about how each sport will function at this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, and check out our favorite athletes to watch or jump to a specific section below:
- Endurance Sports at the Olympics
- Triathletes to Watch
- Marathon Runners to Watch
- Marathon Swimmers to Watch
- Olympic Cyclists to Watch
- How to Watch the Olympics
Endurance Sports: An Olympic Mainstay
The endurance category is one of the largest in the Olympics, consisting of over 50 disciplines across the athletics (track, field, and road), swimming, marathon swimming, triathlon, and cycling (track and road) sport categories.
![runners at the Prague Marathon in 2018 runners at the Prague Marathon in 2018](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2021/07/marathon-runners-Nadezda-Murmakova-1.jpg)
Running events include track distances like 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 5,000m, and longer road distances, like the 20K, 50K, and marathon distance.
The triathlon competition is split into two disciplines for men and women: individual competition and relay disciplines. The individual Olympic triathlon is a course with a 1,500m swim, 40km bike, and 10km run. The mixed relay (teams of two men and two women) is a brand-new discipline to the Olympic Games this year. Its course follows a 300m swim, 6.8km bike, and 2km run.
Swimming includes various Olympic pool distances of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and relay. And, of course, the 10km open-water marathon swim distance.
Cycling is split into road — a road race and time trial — and track — with sprint, team sprint, Team Pursuit, Keirin, and Madison styles (and for the first time in Olympic history, a women’s Madison event as well). Also in the Olympics this year: BMX and mountain biking disciplines.
At this year’s Olympic Games, there’s also men’s Decathlon and women’s Heptathlon competitions, disciplines that put some of the most “ultimate athletes” to the test.
Results: Triathlon
Editor’s Note: We’ve updated our article to reflect triathlon, decathlon, and heptathlon results.
Athletes had to swim 1,500m (2 laps), bike 40km (8 laps), and then run 10km (4 laps) at the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo.
- Men’s Gold: Kristian Blummenfelt, Norway, with a time of 1:45:04
- Men’s Silver: Alex Yee, Great Britain, with a time of 1:45:15
- Men’s Bronze: Hayden Wilde, New Zealand, with a time of 1:45:24
- Women’s Gold: Flora Duffy, Bermuda, with a finish time of 1:55:36
- Women’s Silver: Georgia Taylor-Brown, Great Britain, with a finish time of 1:56:50
- Women’s Bronze: Katie Zaferes, USA, with a finish time of 1:57:03
Results: Decathlon and Heptathlon
- Gold: Nafissatou Thiam, Belgium
- Silver: Anouk Vetter, Netherlands
- Bronze: Emma Oosterwegel, Netherlands
- Gold: Damian Warner, Canada
- Silver: Kevin Mayer, France
- Bronze: Ashley Moloney, Australia
Triathletes to Watch at the Olympic Games
![Javier Gomez Noya triathlon Javier Gomez Noya triathlon](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2021/07/javier-gomez-noya-Natursports.jpg)
Summer Rappaport
Javier Gomez Noya
Matt Hauser
Crisanto Grajales
Taylor Knibb
Kevin McDowell
Results: Olympic Marathon
Men:
- Gold: Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya
- Silver: Abdi Nageeye, Netherlands
- Bronze: Bashir Abdi, Belgium
Women:
- Gold: Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya
- Silver: Brigid Kosgei, Kenya
- Bronze: Molly Seidel, USA
Marathon Runners to Watch at the Olympic Games
![Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2019/10/Eliud-Kipchoge.jpg)
Eliud Kipchoge
Brigid Kosgei
Abdi Abdirahman
Suguru Osako
![2018 London Marathon running Mo Farah running in the 2018 London Marathon near the finish line](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2021/07/mo-farah-2018-london-keith-Larby.jpg)
Mo Farah
Sara Hall
Mao Ichiyama
Helalia Johannes
Marathon Swimmers to Watch at the Olympic Games
Haley Anderson
Florian Wellbrock
Marc-Antoine Olivier
Ashley Twitchell
![Italian Olympic swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri Italian Olympic swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2021/07/Paltrinieri-2016-Rio-Olympic-Games-freestyle-world-record-swimming.jpg)
Gregorio Paltrinieri
Jordan Wilimovsky
Kareena Lee
Results: Marathon Swimming
Men’s 10K Swim
- Gold: Florian Wellbrock, Germany
- Silver: Kristof Rasovszky, Hungary
- Bronze: Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy
Women’s 10K Swim
- Gold: Ana Marcela Cunha, Brazil
- Silver: Sharon van Rouwendaal, Netherlands
- Bronze: Kareena Lee, Australia
Cyclists to Watch at the Olympic Games
Chloé Dygert
Brandon McNulty
Amber Neben
![Amber Neben cycling U.S. cyclist Amber Neben cycling around a corner in an elite road race](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2021/07/amber-neben-2016-UCI-world-championships-Adam-Hodges.jpg)
Jennifer Valente
Emma White
The Olympic Games: Schedule and How to Watch
- Men’s Road Cycling: July 24
- Women’s Road Cycling: July 25
- Men’s Mountain Bike: July 26
- Women’s Mountain Bike: July 27
- Cycling time trials (men’s and women’s): July 28
- Track Cycling (men’s and women’s): August 2-August 8
- Men’s Triathlon: July 26
- Women’s Triathlon: July 27
- Women’s Marathon Swimming: August 4
- Men’s Marathon Swimming: August 5