Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.3390/youth6010005

Publication Title

Youth

Volume

6

Issue

1

Pages

5 (1-13)

Abstract

A triathlon is a multi-sport event that consists of three simultaneous events: swimming, biking, and running. This sport has experienced significant growth in the past few decades, with colleges and universities now participating. This exploratory mixed-methods study examined the motivations and perceived health benefits of college triathletes during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the Means-Ends of Recreation Scale and the Perceived Health Outcomes of Recreation Scale (N = 29), as well as semi-structured interviews (N = 4). Results indicate no difference in motives or health outcomes between male and female survey respondents. The thematic analysis of open-ended interview questions highlighted lived experiences. The results obtained provide preliminary evidence of the importance of motivation and health outcomes of college triathletes during the pandemic.

Rights

© 2026 by the authors.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

Article states: "The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author."

Original Publication Citation

Wilson, P., Hill, E., Haegele, J., & Zhu, X. (2026). Understanding motivations and health outcomes of college-aged triathletes during COVID-19: A mixed-methods study. Youth, 6(1), 1-13, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth6010005

ORCID

0000-0003-4052-5023 (Wilson), 0000-0002-8580-4782 (Haegele), 0000-0002-5048-3464 (Zhu)

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