Africa Triathlon

The 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series was the biggest yet, with 16 incredible races across eight major cities in eight different countries - and 11 different winners. Here we delve into some of the most interesting statistics as we preview the 2013 series, which promises to be even bigger and better.

1 – sweep by one nation in 2012, when Brits Jonathan Brownlee and Helen Jenkins topped the podium in San Diego.

3 - New WTS hosts in 2012, including San Diego, Stockholm and Auckland. All will be back for the 2013 season.

4 - consecutive years that Alistair Brownlee has won a WTS title each year in the series. To make matters more interesting, he’s the only athlete to do so. The London Olympics gold medallist also has the most overall wins with 12, the next closest are brother Jonathan and Spain’s Javier Gomez with four.

4 - first-time WTS winners in 2012, including Australia’s Erin Densham and Germany’s Steffen Justus who triumphed in the season opener in Sydney, South Africa’s Richard Murray who won in Hamburg and Germany’s Anne Haug who proved the best in the Auckland Grand Final. Rising talents to watch this year? What about those who reached the podium for the first time last year, including The Netherlands’ Maaike Caelers and France’s Vincent Luis.

6 – The most number of series medals won without a win, currently held by Russia’s Alexander Bryukhanov and Switzerland’s Sven Riederer. Bryukhankov finished each race he entered in the top-10 last year, but still didn’t claim the big one, while Riederer added two more podium places in 2012, a silver in San Diego and a bronze in Auckland.

8 – ITU World Triathlon series events, including Sydney, San Diego, Yokohama, Kitzbühel, Madrid, Hamburg, Stockholm and Auckland. This year will see a similar line-up, with the series starting in Auckland, then onto San Diego, Yokohama, Madrid, Kitzbühel, Hamburg and Stockholm before the 2013 PruHealth London Grand Final.

8 - different countries on top of World Triathlon Series podiums last year, with Australia’s Erin Densham, Germany’s Steffen Justus and Anne Haug, Great Britain’s Jonathan Brownlee, Alistair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins, Portugal’s Joao Silva, South Africa’s Richard Murray, Spain’s Javier Gomez, Sweden’s Lisa Norden and Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig all claiming WTS wins. Great Britain was the most successful nation in terms of wins this year, with five between the Brownlee brothers and Jenkins.

36 – national broadcasters who covered the ITU season in 2012. So watch out for the series on a TV screen near you in 2013.

49 – rankings points, the different between Russia’s Dmitry Polyanskiy and Switzerland’s Sven Riederer in the 2012 season – the difference between bronze and fourth. Polyanskiy’s seventh place in the Auckland final was just enough to hold off the fast-finishing Riederer, who finished fourth for the second consecutive year.

100s – of live tweets from our live race day account, @triathlonlive, view some of the best, including athlete reactions, on our Storify account here.

OMG! Brownlee got in front but Gomez went again! Gomez wins the #ITUAuckland grand final! Brownlee World Champion!

— triathlonlive (@triathlonlive) October 21, 2012

150 – hours of interviews, filming and editing that goes into each one-hour magazine show on www.triathlon.org/tv, with 14 in total each season. Make sure you sign up now to view the shows with a season pass, available now.

1000 - metres, the total climb on this year’s dramatically changed Kitzbühel course. After completing a 750m swim, triathletes will cycle through the village and then begin an ascent of 867 meters over 11.5km of hairpin mountain roads before facing another 136-meter incline on the 2.5km run. Amateur athletes who enter the age-group race will have the opportunity to tackle the same 1km total climb and compare their times against the best elite athletes in the world. Interested? For more information click here.

27891 – The amount of pictures snapped by photographer Delly Carr, including a whopping 11125 in Auckland. Check out the best work from Delly and ITU’s other photographer in residence Janos Schmidt, here, including Janos’ photo of Charlotte McShane in Auckland that was crowned 2012 ITU photo of the year. Stay tuned to the photo galleries of all of the top shots after each race.