The then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch held a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, with the intention of making triathlon an Olympic sport as soon as possible.

At that meeting Canadian Les McDonald was selected as President to a working committee for triathlon, while Sweden's Sture Jonasson was elected as Secretary.

A total of 30 National Federations attended the initial Congress and preparations were made for the sport's first World Championships to be held in Avignon in August 1989.

More than 800 athletes representing 40 countries competed in the first World Championships, and Canada's Les McDonald was elected as ITU's first president in 1989.

Since its inception World Triathlon has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada until January 1, 2014 when it moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the IOC and many international sporting bodies.

By joining other sports who practice these forms of mixed events, this approach within the scope of the promotion of equality policies between men and women triathletes supported by the international federation.

In September 2017, World Triathlon announced the death of its founding and honorary President, Les McDonald, at the age of 84.

In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe Triathlon said that it strongly supported the decision of the International Olympic Committee and World Triathlon to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from organised European events, and to not organise international events in Russia or Belarus.

One method is through development grants such as the recent one to the African Triathlon Union, with most of the money to national federations allowing for support of organize events, as well as funding for athlete, coach and Technical Officials courses.

[13] One global development is the introduction of certifications for coaching and technical officials meaning that important events will be contested at the high level.