Following a video meeting, the start of the bidding process for the 2021 World Triathlon Series, World Cup and Paratriathlon events was announced.

The 2021 series will include events where points scored count towards Olympic and Paralympic qualification rankings.

"It is again a great honour for us to be looking for cities around the world that want to partner with us in order to host our top tier events, the World Triathlon Series, the World Cups and the Paratriathlon events," World Triathlon President Marisol Casado said.

"We know that the world is currently affected by the pandemic, but we also know that we will overcome this situation, and we will resume our events worldwide when it is safe and fair to do so. 

"These events are the pinnacle of our sport, and bring the world’s best triathletes to a city, offering international exposure to a global audience, and a live thrilling atmosphere of elite level racing. 

"We are eager and excited to start planning our next season."

The ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS) features the world’s best triathletes racing head-to-head in up to 10 races around the globe, including the Grand Final.

All scheduled rounds of the 2020 edition of the series have been postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The WTS series features a combination of events held over the Olympic distance {1.5 kilometre swim, 40km bike and 10km run}, events held over the sprint distance {750 metre swim, 20km bike and 5km run} and mixed relay events.

The hosting of WTS events offers cities opportunities to showcase themselves to millions through television broadcasts as well as the thousands of local, national and international guests and race participants.

Triathlon World Cup competitions are World Triathlon’s second tier events, intended to provide a platform for those triathletes pursuing entry to the WTS.

This year's Triathlon World Cup calendar did manage to begin on schedule, although just hours after the second event in Mooloolaba in Australia had finished rankings were frozen and events suspended.

All Triathlon World Cup events carry a substantial prize purse, have significant media, television and internet coverage and are also attractive as tourist destinations.

The Paratriathlon events open for bidding are the 2021 Paratriathlon World Championships and the Paratriathlon World Series events. There are between two and four of these events per year whilst there are also between eight and 10 Paratriathlon World Cups per year.

Cities interested in hosting a race on either the 2021 World Triathlon Series calendar or a 2021 ITU World Cup event must submit their bid to World Triathlon by June 30. 

Those that have been successful in their bids will be notified on September 1.

Cities interested in hosting paratriathlon events in 2021 are invited to submit their proposals by June 30 with successful cities also being announced on September 1.