World Triathlon has announced that 50 per cent of its technical officials for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be female for the first time ©World Triathlon

World Triathlon has announced that 50 per cent of its international technical officials that will officiate at next year’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris will be female.

It will be the first time that the worldwide governing body has selected an equal number of male and female officials for a Games after 47 per cent per cent were women at Tokyo 2020.

A total of 43 countries across all five continents will be represented in the French capital, with 13 of those officiating at an Olympics or Paralympics for the first time.

World Triathlon has chosen 28 technical officials for the Olympics and 27 for the Paralympics with 50 per cent female representation in each team.

World Triathlon President Marisol Casado, who is one of only three female leaders of Summer Olympic federations, said she was thrilled to strike a gender balance for Paris 2024.

"With this selection, we are proving once more not only that we have a strong and committed team of officials and staff members, but also that we are trusting and empowering our female officials, as we have been doing since our debut at the Olympics in Sydney 2000," said Casado.

World Triathlon President Marisol Casado spoke of her determination to empower women following the selection of the technical officials for Paris 2024 ©Getty Images
World Triathlon President Marisol Casado spoke of her determination to empower women following the selection of the technical officials for Paris 2024 ©Getty Images

"I know that the bar is set high, but I am convinced that the commitment, hard work and dedication of every single person in this list will be once more key to ensure that the triathlon and paratriathlon events will shine more than ever in Paris."

World Triathlon said the technical officials were selected in accordance with its appointment rules which is a multi-phase process that concludes with approval from its Executive Board.

"World Triathlon implements a transparent selection process that is designed to ensure a balanced representation of the most qualified Technical Officials will be present at the Olympics and Paralympics," said Gergely Markus, sports director of World Triathlon.

"We invest a lot on the education and mentorship of the technical officials around the world, and they have proved to be outstanding at every event.

"I’d like to thank all of those who were involved in the selection process and congratulate all the technical officials, including the ones that couldn’t make the list this time.

"There will be more opportunities in the future for them."

The announcement comes after World Triathlon revealed that Italy’s Laura Patti, Mexico’s Felix Molina and Greece’s Thanos Nikopoulos would be technical delegates for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nikopoulos is also set to be technical delegate at the Paralympic Games in the French capital.