The triathlon community was both saddened and stunned by a historically tragic June 2019 that witnessed a total 7 North America race related deaths (6 US & 1 Canadian). Our thoughts go out to the families and friends of Scott Beatse, Dennis McDaniels, James Olayos Jr, Todd Mahoney, Michael McCulloch, Jill Leavy Morris & Quy P. Pham. How did June 2019 compared to previous months and years?
A recent 2017 study, Death and Cardiac Arrest in U.S. Triathlon Participants, 1985 to 2016: A Case Series, indicates an average of 4.2 deaths per year (135 deaths in 32 years). Included below are the conclusions and limitations of the study.
Conclusion: “Deaths and cardiac arrests during the triathlon are not rare; most have occurred in middle-aged and older men. Most sudden deaths in triathletes happened during the swim segment, and clinically silent cardiovascular disease was present in an unexpected proportion of decedents.
Limitation: “Case identification may be incomplete and may underestimate events, particularly in the early study period. In addition, prerace medical history is unknown in most cases.”
Six deaths in a single month (U.S.) in a sport that averages 4.2 deaths per year (U.S.) is absolutely an outlier. Determining the scope and scale of these tragedies was difficult due to the “proprietary” nature of the available data including the 2017 study. Dr. Kevin Harris, who authored the 2017 study was unaware of any public location for the data.
We created a Wikipedia page, “List of Triathlon Fatalities”, to serve as both a way to memorialize those that passed while competing in triathlons as well as a resource for those investing time in making triathlon safer. It was built with a sortable list of individuals who died as a result of competing in a triathlon or duathlon. The initial focus was U.S. but we have opened that up to any country globally. This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Special thanks to my daughter, Karena, for organizing and posting the data on Wikipedia as well as the multitude of race directors who assisted in the search for source materials.
California Triathlon is a 501(c)(3) charity that provides a premium no-fee membership to over 5,000 athletes worldwide. Our mission is to make the sport of triathlon affordable, accessible & sustainable by providing the resources, coaching and support needed for athletes to accomplish their goals.