How are the performance scores calculated?

• My Tri Ranking gives each race you do a performance score, by comparing your time to a projected world best time.

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• The world best time equates to a performance score of 1000 points, which is defined as a performance at the average level of the World Number 1 during the relevant season (see list below).

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• The closer you get to the world best time, the higher your score. For example, if your time was:

  • 10% slower than the projected world best time → 900 points

  • 20% slower → 800 points

  • 30% slower → 700 points

  • If your time was faster than the world best time, you would score more than 1000 points for that race!

  

What is the world best standard?​

• Ranking scores are pegged to the following world best standards:

  • Open Sprint & Standard Triathlon – 2023 Alex Yee

  • Female Sprint & Standard Triathlon – 2023 Beth Potter

  • Open Middle Triathlon – 2025 Hayden Wilde

  • Female Middle Triathlon – 2025 Lucy Charles-Barclay

  • Open Sprint & Standard Duathlon – 2023 Mario Mola

  • Female Sprint & Standard Duathlon – 2023 Emma Pallant-Browne

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• In all cases, a score of 1,000 represents an average performance during the season listed for that athlete.

 

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

• It doesn't matter if who the world number 1 is changes over time, or if the world number 1 gets better or worse.

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• Scores in My Tri Ranking are pegged to how good the then World Number 1 was during the relevant season detailed above. The world best standard is a fixed unchanging standard which performances can be compared to on an ongoing basis.

 

How does My Tri Ranking calculate the world best time?​

• Since the then World Number 1 almost certainly didn’t compete in the race you just did (and even if they did their ability has likely changed since the relevant season) – My Tri Ranking makes use of “benchmark” athletes to calculate the world best time.

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• Benchmarkers are athletes in the race who already have a ranking and thus whose ability relative to the world best standard has already been defined.

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• To understand the principle of benchmarkers imagine Jonathan Brownlee raced Alex Yee (the world best standard for Open Sprint & Standard triathlon) multiple times in 2023, and on average Jonathan Brownlee 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) would not be robust. So, My Tri Ranking makes use of many benchmarkers (athletes in the race who are already ranked relative to a 2023 Alex Yee). Each benchmarker produces an independent estimate of how fast Alex Yee would have completed the race.

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• With a large enough number of independent estimates of the world best time, it becomes possible to derive a precise estimate of its value.

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• When a new result is processed, those who already have a ranking in My Tri Ranking make up the pool of available benchmarkers, given (as already described) every athlete's score in My Tri Ranking represents a percentage difference in ability between them, and the world best standard.

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• My Tri Ranking 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 relevant world best athlete competed and performed at their average ability during the relevant season.

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• The world best 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.

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• 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 best time. This can happen when the field is small, or when few of the athletes participating already have a ranking. 

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How does My Tri Ranking account for differences in field quality and course variables?​

• Because the world best time is based on the finish times of the athletes who did the race 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.​

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• If the race were wetter, longer, more hilly, windier, more technical... then it would take all the benchmarkers longer to complete the race than otherwise, which would produce an accordingly slower estimate of the world best time. 

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So can I see how my performance level changes over time by looking at my scores?

• Yes — because scores account for differences in field quality, course and conditions, you can validly compare performances across races. If your scores are rising, you’re improving relative to the competition!

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• Just remember that each sport has a different world best standard:

  • Short course triathlon scores should only be compared with other short course triathlon scores

  • Duathlon with duathlon

  • Middle distance with middle distance

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Which races are considered in the rankings?​​

• Sprint and Standard Distance Triathlon 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 World 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

    • 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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•  Middle Distance Triathlon Rankings

  • Since the start of 2025 My Tri Ranking has provided near complete coverage of middle-distance races happening in the UK. 

  • Races covered:

    • ​All global Ironman 70.3 events with a pro field, which included more than approximately 25 British AG athletes or both.

    • All global PTO T100 events

    • All global Challenge Events in which nationality is depicted on the result sheet.

    • Elite and AG Europe Triathlon Middle Distance Triathlon Championships

    • British Middle Distance Triathlon Championships

    • Most domestic UK Middle Distance Triathlon Events (Outlaw, Tribourne, Lakesman and many more)

    • Irish National Series Middle Distance Events

 

• Sprint & Standard Distance Duathlon Rankings

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

  • Races covered:

    • Elite World Triathlon International Duathlon Events

    • Age Group European / World Duathlon Championship Events

    • British & Irish Age Group National Duathlon Championship Races

    • GB Age Group Team Qualification Races

    • Irish National Duathlon Series Races

    • British Universities Duathlon Championships (BUCS)

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

 

How is an athlete's nationality determined? 

• ​Athletes will appear in a country’s national rankings if the following criteria are met:​

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. And they have not represented a different country* in an Ironman, PTO or Challenge event.

 

*Athletes representing Guernsey, Jersey, Isle Of Man, Gibraltar, Alderney or Sark in Ironman events are considered to be representing Great Britain for the purposes of My Tri Ranking.

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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.