was founded and in 1997 parity was brought to duathlon with the Long Distance Duathlon World Championships. Also in 1997 the first Winter Triathlon World Championships was held giving the sport of winter triathlons its own world championship. Then in 1998 the Aquathlon World Championships were inaugurated, giving aquathlon its own world championship. In 2009 the Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships was held to organise an elite-level international relay. The most recently created tournament is the Cross Triathlon World Championships; similar to how long-distance world championships were introduced to mirror the well known Ironman events, it was created to allow the sports governing body to have a world championship instead of XTERRA Triathlon. Both Ironman and XTERRA also operate 'world championship' events. The world championship events organised by World Triathlon include: In triathlon: World Triathlon Championship Series World Triathlon Long Distance Championships World Triathlon Sprint Distance Championships World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships World Triathlon Cup In duathlon World Triathlon Duathlon Championships World Triathlon Long Distance Duathlon Championships In aquathlon: World Triathlon Aquathlon Championships In winter triathlon: World Triathlon Winter Championships In triathlon cross World Triathlon Cross Championships References External links Sports organizations established in 1989 Triathlon organizations IOC-recognised international federations International sports bodies based in Switzerland