The Art of Triathlon: Part 2

In our last article, we explored the art of triathlon by taking a closer look at bikes and tattoos – moving works of art travelling through training and across the race course, helping tell the stories unique to each athlete.

In this one, my love of art and how it is showcased in sport continues as we turn to what athletes are wearing on race day.

Kits of old were purely functional. What began as one- or two-piece bathing suits and a beach full of speedos has evolved into high-tech, watt-saving suits optimized for every possible advantage on course. Yet one thing remains: art.

In fact, the artistry of race kits has only expanded. Today, many pros wear custom suits that showcase not only their sponsors but, perhaps more compellingly, their colours, personalities, and sense of self.

A brief proviso before we dive in. This is about art, design, and the evolution of the triathlon suit into what we might call a modern-day personal canvas. It is not about the technical aspects of different suits, a topic explored elsewhere.

When Race Kits Become Storytelling

If we are looking for two athletes leading the way in individuality and self-expression through suit design, we need look no further than power couple Vincent Luis and Georgia Taylor-Brown, the Dior and McCartney of triathlon fashion.

Both athletes’ 2025 race kits were co-designed with Tactic Sport, and they quickly captured the attention of fans and commentators worldwide. What followed was a creative season of storytelling: a different suit for each race, each carrying its own inspiration and meaning.

Vincent Luis

Vincent Luis stood out from the start with his T100 debut in Singapore, where he used the surnames of each T100-contracted male athlete to spell out his own name across his race suit. He followed with a custom San Francisco 49ers-inspired look for T100 San Francisco.

Then came Challenge Roth and with it a clear message that Luis was fully committed to the “race runway,” unveiling a new kit for every start. Celebrating his long-distance debut at Roth, his piece mon dernier dossard (“my last bib”) was dubbed Like Father, Like Son to honour a full-circle moment. Twenty years earlier, Luis’s father had competed in his first long-distance triathlon at Roth. He returned to the same course for his own debut.

Like father, like son.

Luis secured an impressive fourth place in that debut before continuing a season focused on middle-distance racing across the T100 and 70.3 circuits, each race bringing a new canvas and with it a new story.

Georgia Taylor-Brown

Like Luis, Taylor-Brown’s season felt something like a Met Gala on the race course. Her season-ending championship races in particular captured the sport’s attention for both performance and suit artistry.

In Marbella, she finished just off the podium in fourth place wearing a suit adorned with fruits and florals, a design that looked as though it had stepped straight from a designer’s sketchbook onto the start line.

From there, Taylor-Brown travelled to Dubai, again finishing fourth and gaining momentum in her T100 campaign. Her suit blended soft coral, blush, and seafoam tones with confectionary-inspired accents.

She carried this same design to Bahrain just two weeks later, where she set a new Ironman 70.3 world record of 3:51:19. The day carried an added layer of significance: Luis also took the win in Bahrain, making it a rare couple’s victory on the same course, pairing artistry with world-class performance for each of them.

Last but certainly not least, Taylor-Brown delivered a breakthrough performance at the T100 World Championship Final in Qatar, securing her first T100 podium and taking silver behind Kate Waugh. This time she wore a suit almost translucent in tone: a pearl-white canvas veined with cool blue and lavender light, echoing the inside of an oyster shell and drawing inspiration from Qatar’s traditional pearling industry.

From Athlete Vision to Race-Day Canvas

For every idea, Luis and Taylor-Brown enlisted Tactic Sport to bring their concepts to life.

“We understand what athletes need and want, and we understand the body movements and all of the technical aspects that must be considered when creating a racing suit,” Pau Bedmar, Tactic’s product graphic designer, told Triathlon Magazine. But translating performance requirements is only part of the process; just as important to Bedmar and to Tactic is capturing what an athlete wants to express on race day.

“Georgia would send sketches she had drawn – photos of the sketch and Pinterest ideas,” Bedmar explained, describing how Taylor-Brown’s concepts evolved through an iterative design process. In one case, that process had to move at “race pace”: one suit required design within a day and production within a week!

The result was more than performance apparel. Each suit became a story in motion, carried through the swim, bike, and run.

For athletes inspired by the creativity of Luis and Taylor-Brown, the idea of racing in a custom suit is no longer reserved for professionals. Brands such as Tactic Sport, WYN Republic, Zoot, and others now offer custom design programs for age-group athletes as well, allowing competitors at every level to bring their own personality and story to the start line.

Mel Sauve is an Ironman triathlete and a regular contributor to Triathlon Magazine. She also leads the magazine’s on-the-ground photography at major events, including the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Championships.