Australian’s Lyndell Murray and Michael Thompson have been selected by World Triathlon as International Technical Officials for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Murray is among the 28 Technical Officials who will officiate at the Olympic Games, while Thompson is among the 27 who will officiate at the Paralympic Games.

As Technical Race Director for Super League Triathlon, Thompson was mid-air on-route to Switzerland for the Arena Games when the news broke. He said he was surprised to find out the news when he landed.

“When I turned my phone on, I had all these messages congratulating me on my selection. Obviously, at the stage, I had no idea and had to ask them why they were congratulating me. Luckily, they screenshotted a copy of the letter to me, and it all made sense.” He said.

“I’m quite honoured to even be considered. Australia has a huge talent pool of international experienced officials, so to be considered in the same group is awesome.”

The Technical Officials were selected in accordance with World Triathlon’s Technical Officials Appointment Rules, which is a multi-phase process that involves creation of eligible list of officials, proposals from the National Federations from the list of eligible officials, selection by the World Triathlon Technical Committee and Technical Delegates and finally approval from the World Triathlon Executive Board.  

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will host three medal events for Triathlon: individual men & women and the Mixed Relay included in the programme, after the successful debut of the thrilling format in Tokyo. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will welcome the biggest ever para triathlon field with 120 athletes competing in 11 medal events.