The global growth of triathlon no longer depends solely on the emergence of new athletes or competitive success on major international stages. Behind every sustainable sports development process lies a technical structure capable of training, supporting, and developing talent across different cultural and social contexts. From this perspective, the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP) celebrated the graduation of its sixteenth class in Lausanne, establishing itself as one of the most important initiatives for strengthening leadership and coach development around the world.

The ceremony, held at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, brought together 36 coaches from 36 countries and 17 sports disciplines, all trained under a model jointly promoted by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the University of Delaware, and Olympic Solidarity. Among them were triathlon coaches Adele De la Rey, from Namibia, and Marian Borsinski, from Denmark, who used their visit to Switzerland to present projects to World Triathlon focused on expanding access, improving technical education, and building more inclusive and sustainable sports structures in their respective countries.

Namibia aims to decentralize triathlon development

The project presented by Adele De la Rey stems from a concrete challenge affecting Namibian sport: the limited number of qualified coaches and the strong concentration of sporting opportunities in Windhoek, the country’s capital. In response, the coach designed an initiative aimed at establishing the first regional triathlon training base in northern Namibia, an area historically distant from the country’s main sports development programs.

The proposal not only includes the training of new coaches through courses certified by World Triathlon, but also a hybrid model combining virtual mentoring, practical learning, and community-based fieldwork. The goal is to build a sustainable network capable of expanding access to triathlon across different regions of the country. Beyond high performance, the project emphasizes the social impact of sport, understanding that the growth of a discipline also depends on its ability to integrate into communities and create new development opportunities for young people and future coaches.

Denmark seeks to expand its Olympic talent pipeline

In Denmark, Marian Borsinski is tackling a different but equally strategic challenge: expanding the pool of talent available for high-performance triathlon. Although the country has consistently produced Olympic-level triathletes since the beginning of the century, the number of athletes within the national system remains relatively small. From that assessment emerged “Talent ID 32,” a pilot project focused on recruiting athletes aged 16 to 25 from disciplines such as swimming, athletics, and gymnastics.

The program, developed in Aarhus — one of Denmark’s leading high-performance centers — applies scientific criteria to identify transferable skills for triathlon, prioritizing physical attributes, long-term development potential, and gender equity. The initiative seeks to create an alternative pathway for sports development, allowing athletes with experience in other sports to adapt to a multidisciplinary competitive environment. For World Triathlon, projects of this kind represent a key tool for strengthening national coaching structures and ensuring that the global growth of triathlon is supported by modern, inclusive, and future-ready technical systems.