The competition was held on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at the Triathlon Venue at the Ming Tomb Reservoir in Shisanling.

The men's triathlon was won by Jan Frodeno of Germany with a time of 1:48:53.28.

Simon Whitfield of Canada, who previously won this event in 2000, claimed the silver, while New Zealand's Bevan Docherty, silver medalist at the 2004 Athens, took the bronze.

For the first time in Olympic history, two athletes had won more than a single medal in triathlon.

The race was held over the "international distance" (also called "Olympic distance") and consisted of 1,500 metres (0.93 mi) swimming, 40 kilometres (25 mi), of road cycling, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of road running.