The World Triathlon Cup is an annual series of triathlon races staged around the world. The series is organised by the World Triathlon, the world governing body of the sport. Inaugurated in 1991, the World Cup began as an attempt to create a regular season under its management in tandem with the ITU Triathlon World Championship race. However, this meant that there was a World Cup champion as well as a world champion. Following the 2008 series the ITU reorganized its top level competitions and created the World Triathlon Series, a series of races that was to be the successor of the World Championship. Meanwhile, the World Cup was relegated to become a second tier series, as a result the number of races in the World Cup were reduced. Since the reformat, points earned in World Cup racing are