How are the rankings calculated?
 

• ​Our starting point is the best athlete in the world in 2023 for a given gender and multisport discipline. For the Male/Open category in triathlon that was Alex Yee, so let's use him as the example.

• 1000 points is defined as the score achieved by a performance at the 2023 World Number 1's average level during the 2023 season.

• For each race, the My Tri Ranking system estimates the time it would have taken a 2023 Alex Yee to complete the race. It makes a series of calculations to determine what would likely have happened if Alex had turned up and then had an average performance (by his 2023 standards!).

• We then compare your actual performance in the race to the time estimated for a 2023 Alex Yee*. We award your performance a score (almost certainly under 1,000, unless it was so good you would have beaten Alex!)​

• All race scores in My Tri Ranking represent a percentage difference between the projected World Number 1 time, and the athletes finish time. Eg a score of 900 is awarded for a finish time 10% slower than the projected World Number 1 time, 20% slower would be 800, 30% 700 and so on...

• Once you have completed one scoring race in the last 12 months then you will appear in the rankings. If you do more than one scoring race then we take the average of your best two races to determine your ranking.

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*If you are a female triathlete then our point of comparison is Beth Potter rather than Alex Yee. Mario Mola (Open) and Emma Pallant-Browne (Female) have been used for duathlon.​​

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What if the World Number 1 gets better (or worse) over time?
 

• It doesn't matter if the 2023 World Number One gets better or worse. Scores in MyTriRanking will forever be relative to the ability of the 2023 World Number 1(s) during the 2023 season.

• There is nothing statistically special about the 2023 World Number 1. Their ability at that time was simply used as an arbitrary standard that everyone else can continue be measured relative to. We could have chosen any arbitrary standard, but making scores relative to the 2023 World Number 1 seemed the neatest solution.

 

How do you know how fast the World number one would have gone in the race I just did?
 

• The My Tri Ranking system makes use of athletes we call “benchmarkers”. Benchmarkers are athletes whose ability relative to the World Number 1 has already been defined.

• To understand how benchmarkers work, imagine Jonathan Brownlee raced Alex Yee (2023 World #1) multiple times in 2023, and on average he was 3% slower. If you take a race that Jonathan Brownlee did, but Alex Yee didn’t do, one might logically deduce that if Alex Yee had competed, his time might have been 3% faster than Jonathan Brownlee's.

• But a calculation of Alex Yee's time based on just one benchmarker (Jonathan Brownlee) wouldn’t be very robust. So the algorithm makes use of many benchmarkers (athletes in the race who are already ranked relative to Alex Yee). Each benchmarker produces an independent estimate of how fast Alex Yee would have completed the race. If you have a large enough number of independent estimates of a variable, it becomes possible to derive a more precise estimate of its value. In this case, how fast Alex Yee would have completed the race (assuming he performed at the average of his 2023 level).

• When a new result is processed, those who already have a ranking in My Tri Ranking make up the pool of available benchmarkers, given that every athlete's score in My Tri Ranking represents a percentage difference in ability between them, and a 2023 Alex Yee. The algorithm discounts outliers (eg athletes whose time might not be a fair reflection of their ability due to mechanical issues), and then simulates the race, imagining the World Number 1 competed.

• The World Number 1 time is set at the point where the positives (benchmarkers who achieved a score above their 12-month rolling average) are balanced out by the negatives (benchmarkers who achieved a score below their 12-month rolling average). Or in simple terms, each athlete who does better than their personal average in any given race is balanced out by someone who did worse.

• Because the estimate of the 2023 World Number 1s time is based on the finish times of the athletes themselves, it indirectly takes into account all course variables, given the finish times of all athletes who competed were necessarily impacted by the conditions that prevailed on the day. If the race were wetter, longer, more hilly, more windy... then it would take all the benchmarkers longer to complete the race than otherwise, which would produce an accordingly slower estimate of the World Number 1 time. 

• Occasionally, a race cannot be scored, and you might see a result marked "LoB" on your profile. This happens if the number of available benchmarkers is not sufficient to produce a reliable estimate of the World Number 1’s time. This can happen when the field is very small, or when few of the athletes participating already have a ranking. 

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So I can see how my performance changes over time by looking at my scores?
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• Yes, absolutely! The beauty of our approach is that it makes it possible to accurately compare performances on different days, in different weather, on different courses, against different opponents etc. The score you are given for each race indirectly takes into account all of those factors. If your scores are getting higher, then you are getting better relative to the competition!

• Remember though, triathlon scores can only be validly compared to other triathlon scores, and vice versa for duathlon. This is because triathlon scores are relative to Alex Yee/Beth Potter. Whilst duathlon scores are relative to Maria Mola/Emma Pallant-Browne. 

 

What races are considered in the rankings?
 

• Since the start of 2024, My Tri Ranking has provided near complete coverage of sprint & standard distances races happening in the UK. 

• Races covered:

  • Elite Wold Triathlon International Events

  • Age Group European / World Championship Events

  • GB Age Group Team Qualification Races

  • British Super Series Races

  • Welsh Super Series Races

  • Irish National Triathlon Series

  • Irish National Duathlon Series

  • British Universities Championship Races

  • British & Irish Age Group National Championship Races

  • Mass Participation Events (Blenheim, London Triathlon, JLL Property etc)

  • Most grassroots events in UK & Ireland (preference given to results published in 5 year age-groups).

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How is an athlete's nationality determined? 

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• Athletes will appear in a countries national rankings if the following criteria are met:

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1. They have competed in at least 1 domestic event in that country in the past 12 months AND OR

2. They have represented that country at international level in the past 12 months AND

3. They are not considered by World Triathlon to be a current representative of a different country. 

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In practice, this means you can appear in the national rankings of a country even if you are not a citizen, so long as you don't represent any other country internationally at elite or age-group level. 

 

There is no perfect way to rank multisport. Sports like swimming are easy to rank as time is everything. Triathlon is not one of those sports. Courses, distances and conditions vary wildly, time in the absence of context is uninformative. Ranking triathlon is inherently complex and has required innovative mathematical approaches. This is a first serious attempt to address these challenges in the UK & Ireland with the help of a computer model.