Milwaukee and USA Triathlon Continue to Forge Bond

Sometimes a destination and a specific event fit: The competitors are happy, the event organizer is thrilled and the city benefits financially.

That’s the case with Milwaukee and the USA Triathlon Sprint and Olympic Distance National Championships. The 2025 edition, taking place August 8–10, marks the seventh time Milwaukee has hosted the event since 2013. It will also host the 2026 version.

“It’s an ideal, and pretty darn close to perfect, venue,” said Brian D’Amico, USA Triathlon director of events. “It’s protected within Lake Michigan, within the breakwaters. So that provides a really docile swim. There’s a spectator bridge that goes over the swim that gives a good viewing standpoint for spectators.

“From an athlete standpoint, it’s a really challenging course, but at the same time it’s a course that some athletes have become familiar with. From a spectating and ease of access standpoint, it’s super easy and straightforward. The proximity of the hotels offers the unique ability for athletes and spectators to walk to the venue and back.”

Milwaukee first hosted the event in 2013, the result of a few in the city having a business connection with USA Triathlon and recommending the city. USA Triathlon liked it so much it came back in 2014 and 2015. Visit Milwaukee welcomed the event back from 2021–2023 and now will be the site the next two years.

“Once we realized how well our lakefront worked for an event of this caliber and size, it just became an easier relationship and partnership,” said Marissa Werner, director of Sports Milwaukee. “When we hosted it the second year, we saw our registration numbers grow about 25–30 percent because everybody caught wind of how amazing our lakefront is and how wonderful Milwaukee is as a host.”

August 8 will feature the 750-meter Open Water Swim in Lake Michigan, open to all who register, with no qualification required. August 9 will see the Olympic Distance National Championships (1,500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run) take place. August 10 will feature the Sprint National Championships (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) and the USA Paratriathlon National Championships.

Athletes will swim in Lake Michigan, bike along the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge and Lake Freeway, and run through Milwaukee’s Veterans Park, finishing along the pathways of Lincoln Memorial Drive.

A Lot of Moving Parts

With more than 3,800 entrants and thousands more friends, family and fans coming into Milwaukee, this is not a normal event from a hosting standpoint. All of these athletes are swimming, biking and running many miles all around the county, making it quite a logistical challenge.

“What makes this event so unique is we have to garner permits and approval from numerous entities and districts,” Werner said. “We work with Milwaukee County Parks, Port of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Police, Milwaukee Fire, St. Francis, Cudahy, our Wisconsin State Department of Transportation, because the competitors go over our Home Bridge. So in all, there are about 13 or 14 different entities that we have to work with and get them to collaborate on the success of an event of this size.”

D’Amico added it takes upward of 20 different permits since USA Triathlon is working with three cities.

“Overall, we’re working with probably 25 or 30 different agencies,” he said. “Everything from Union Pacific Railroad to Coast Guard, police, you name it. We’re working with all those groups and it really trickles down even to businesses and residences, just making sure they’re aware of the event.

“We make sure we’re good community partners. Not just restricting access to the places where people need to go, but providing solutions and helping them so they see the event as a value and hopefully come out to watch.”

USA Triathlon has four people in its events department, so organizing an event of this size requires all hands on deck from the NGB’s 40-plus full-time employees to help with the event in some form or fashion.

“It’s probably between 15–20 full-time staff members going to the event,” D’Amico said. “But then we have an additional 20 or so contractors that will help supplement with course leads and course assistance, who we try to keep consistent event over event just to provide that continuity and so they know all of our protocols with Sports Milwaukee.”

For the city, this event is different from the volleyball, hockey, basketball or fencing tournament that frequents Milwaukee.

“And that’s what makes it so unique,” Werner said. “You’re not just working with one building. You’re not just working with a few hotels. You are really leading the way to make sure it is a safe event for all athletes involved. We were the first city to host this event three times in a row. Not every city has a body of water next to their downtown that would allow them to host an event of this size and give that kind of experience.”

Building a Successful Partnership

The first time Milwaukee hosted the event 12 years ago, nobody involved could’ve predicted how successful the partnership would become.

D’Amico says during those first three years, a lot of the athletes had never been to Milwaukee. However, after spending some time in the city, participants were “overwhelmingly glowing” in their reviews.

“The city’s growing like crazy and they’re really putting a huge emphasis on the sports and tourism market,” he added. “Milwaukee has so many things you can do and it’s just so openly friendly to endurance sports and athletes. We are treated — from an athlete standpoint and a federation standpoint — as a premier event, which is really rewarding to see.”

The city expects the economic impact for this year’s event to be around $6.7 million. But that won’t be the only money generator for Milwaukee from August 8–10, as the Wisconsin State Fair takes place over the same weekend just west of the city. Add that to a Brewers’ homestand against the New York Mets and it is a full weekend of events for the county.

“It’s an amazing event for our city and for all of the businesses, because when these athletes are done participating, they are out and about exploring our city,” Werner said. “Even days before the event, they come in and take bike rides to get the lay of the land throughout our city and come to our restaurants and check out the attractions. It’s an large influx of money into our downtown area.”

Trying Something New

While Milwaukee is a veteran of hosting the USA Triathlon Sprint and Olympic Distance National Championships, the city will experience something new this year. For the first time, USA Triathlon is co-hosting the Para Triathlon National Championships, an event with 75 athletes that has typically been standalone.

“The Para athletes will be competing for a $36,000 prize purse and we’re very excited to be bringing that event into the fold,” D’Amico said. “Fans can expect a huge amount of community camaraderie and high energy throughout the whole weekend.

“We’ve really tried to festival-ize our expo area, where we’ll have 40-plus expo vendors and five or six food trucks. So we’re trying to pull in the community and we want them to come out, have a bite to eat and catch a little bit of the race and really just expose them to the event as a whole.”

Werner says it’s important for her and her team to make sure Milwaukee leaves the best impression.

“We want to ensure that every aspect of the event is a good experience,” Werner said. “We know we can’t control Mother Nature, but we can control the experience that these athletes have when they aren’t on the race course, and to inform them of everything that Milwaukee has to offer. So even if their race didn’t go exactly as planned, we know they’re still going to leave thinking Milwaukee is a unique and cultured city with a variety of restaurants and activities.”