Australia’s Emma Moffatt (R), teammate Ashleigh Gentle (2nd R) and Britain’s Non Stanford (3rd R) compete in the cycling leg of the women’s race in the ITU World Triathlon Series, at Hyde Park in London September 14, 2013. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
Nov 10 (Reuters) – World Triathlon is looking to use new anti-drafting technology to ensure fairer competition among athletes, the sport’s governing body said on Wednesday.
RaceRanger, an electronic sensor system, is designed to improve fairness around the issue of drafting on the bike section of non-drafting triathlons, which make up around 85% of triathlon competitions around the world.
Drafting is when a cyclist moves into an area of low pressure behind another cyclist, reducing the wind resistance and the amount of energy required to pedal.
Non-drafting triathlons do not permit such an advantage, meaning athletes must maintain a specified distance between each other, unless they are moving to the side to pass.
Athletes and officials currently rely on naked eye judgements to determine drafting distances during races.
“World Triathlon is one of the most progressive and innovative sporting organisations in the world… with this agreement we want to make the athlete experience better,” said World Triathlon president Marisol Casado.
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