The announcement was made in Vancouver, with next year's Duathlon Championships being held in Nancy on September 22-23, with the French city having previously hosted the European Duathlon Championships.

The 2012 Long Distance Triathlon World Championship will take place in Vitoria-Gasteiz on July 29.

The Basque capital hosted the Spanish national long distance titles in 2009.

Segovia in Spain will kick off the 2013 Championships, with the city renowned in particular for its cycling, and it is the home town of 1988 Tour de France winner Pedro Delgado.

In 2013 the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships will be held in Belfort, France, over June 1-2.

The town has hosted a number of triathlon events in the past, including the National French Duathlon Championships and the National French Triathlon Championships.

ITU President Marisol Casado was delighted to announce the host cities.

"I'm excited to officially welcome Nancy, Belfort, Segovia and Vitoria-Gasteiz into our World Championship host family and I am confident that that all these events will be wonderful successes," she said.

"The ITU is a strong supporter of all its multi-sport disciplines, as they all part of spreading triathlon's message around the world, and we would like to thank these host cities for helping us to achieve this."

Duathlon consists of a 10 kilometres run, 40km bike and 5km run, with this year's World Championships taking place in September in Gijon.

The Long distance triathlon takes in a 4km swim, 120km bike and 30km run, and its 2011 World Championship is being held in Henderson, Nevada in November.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]