The French triathlete is a multiple world champion in junior, U23 and mixed relay competition. Now racing at the sharp end of the 2023 World Series, has his time as an elite individual racer finally arrived?
Who is Dorian Coninx?
A son of Grenoble, Dorian Coninx has proved himself to the one of the leading lights of triathlon’s French revolution which has seen the likes of Vincent Luis, Cassandre Beaugrand and Léo Bergere climb into the highest branches of the sport’s top tree.
Over the years he’s been a fixture of the country’s dominant mixed relay squad as they’ve helped themselves to world title after world title.
Coninx has conquered the world no fewer than five times with his team-mates, even if – somewhat surprisingly – they had to settle for bronze in Tokyo in 2021 as the event made its Olympic debut.
Coninx had already enjoyed world championship success before hooking up with his compatriots.
In September 2013, he added the world junior title to the European junior crown that was already in his possession. The following year, the U23 world title was his too.
It’s fair to say that his individual performances haven’t always lived up to the promise of those early triumphs, but he has proved himself to be a solid and consistent performer on the World Series circuit, as well as one of the fiercest competitors in any field when it comes to the run.
There have been some notable individual victories, though.
There was a golden performance at the European Championships in Valencia in 2021, which itself followed hard on the heels of a World Series victory in Montreal, where Coninx led home a French clean sweep of the podium places.
That wasn’t his only World Series win. His first came two years earlier in Bermuda, where – to many people’s surprise, including his own – he outran multiple world champion Javier Gómez to break the tape.
Coninx’s form is strong as the countdown to the next year’s Paris Olympics starts, where he’ll certainly be looking for another medal in the mixed relay. Is there any hope for individual glory?
If he’s in the mix in the final few hundred metres, you wouldn’t bet against him in a sprint.
How old is Dorian Coninx?
Dorian Coninx was born on 28 January 1994, making him 29 years of age.
Dorian Coninx’s career highlights
June 2013: Champion of Europe
Having come second in the junior sections of both a European Cup and the French national championships during the previous month, Coninx travels to Turkey for the European Championships, from which he returns with the junior gold medal in his luggage.
His victory includes the fastest splits both in the water and on the bike.
September 2013: King of the world
Lining up in London as the European champion, all eyes are on Coninx. But the pressure of being the pre-race favourite doesn’t faze the teenager as he breaks the tape in Hyde Park after outsprinting homeboys Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon.
Coninx follows this up at the end of the month by taking fifth place in the elite race at the national championships.
May 2014: Debut on an elite podium
After his success in Turkey the previous spring, Coninx returns to claim his first podium as an elite in the Antalya round of the European Cup. It’s another success set up by a race-leading swim leg.
July 2014: French team surf to silver
Having registered his first top 10 in an ITU race the day before, Coninx is part of the French mixed relay squad that takes world silver in Hamburg.
August 2014: World champ twice over
Fewer than 12 months after being crowned world junior champ, Coninx repeats the feat in the U23 category in Edmonton, finishing just ahead of the British pair Marc Austin and Gordon Benson.
March 2015: A maiden elite victory
In the Portuguese resort town of Quarteira, Coninx takes a comfortable win in the latest round of the European Cup, finishing almost a minute ahead of the field. It’s his first time atop an elite podium.
July 2015: A third world title
After a pair of top-10 ITU finishes, Coninx takes his third world gold in Hamburg as part of the victorious French mixed relay quartet.
Inheriting a 17-second deficit at the handover, he puts France back in touch with the leaders during his leg. Eventually, Vincent Luis wins a spring duel with Australia’s Ryan Bailie.
This crack French squad will repeat the relay trick a year later, handing Coninx his fourth world title.
April 2016: First top-three WTS placing
Coninx takes his maiden step onto a WTS podium when he comes third in Cape Town. He’s in top-class company, finishing third between Jonny Brownlee and Fernando Alarza.
September 2017: Medals at the double
After something of a lacklustre season, Coninx ends the 2017 campaign with a double dose of joy in September.
First, he is crowned French national champion in Quiberon ahead of a customary strong field containing Pierre Le Corre, Aurelien Raphael and Vincent Luis.
Then he takes silver at the world U23 championships in Rotterdam, losing out on top spot to his compatriot Raphael Montoya.
May 2018: More European glory
After his European Cup success in Quarteira back in 2015, Coninx repeats the victory three years later, overpowering yet another Frenchman, Léo Bergere, on the run.
July 2018: World title number five
The all-conquering French mixed relay team takes another world crown in Hamburg. It’s Coninx’s fifth world title, to which the quartet adds gold at the European Championships a month later. He’s going to have to build a bigger trophy cabinet.
April 2019: A maiden World Series triumph
Coninx’s most prestigious individual win as an elite comes in Bermuda where he outruns the veteran Javier Gómez and the Norwegian Gustav Iden.
It’s the Frenchman’s first appearance on a World Series podium and he’s occupying the top step.
August 2019: Leads France to victory at the Olympic Mixed Relay Test Event… just
Two days after DNFing in the individual race, Coninx takes on the victory lap in the mixed team relay and wins by milliseconds over second-place Team GB, led by Alex Yee.
September 2020: Yet another relay world title
After French gold 12 months ago, one more world mixed relay crown comes Coninx’s way in Hamburg. It’s his fifth in this particular event and his seventh overall.
July 2021: An Olympic medal to add to the collection
Despite their domination at the world champs, the French mixed relay quartet can’t take top spot at the Tokyo Olympics, where the event is making its debut. Third place has to suffice behind GB and USA.
Still, any colour of Olympic medal is treasured, particularly after his 17th placing in the men’s race, and his 34th-placed finish in Rio five years ago.
August 2021: Coninx the destroyer
Any Olympic disappointment dissolves with a second World Series win, this time in Montreal. The following month sees Coninx crowned European champion after a commanding victory in Valencia.
August 2022: Buoyant in Bergen
A highly impressive display in Bergen sees Coninx hold off the challenge of the usually dominant Kristian Blummenfelt to beat the Norwegian on his home turf of Norway by a margin of just a second.
It comes two weeks after taking individual bronze (in a French podium clean-sweep) and mixed team relay gold at the 2022 European Champs in Munich.
May 2023: Leads after three
Despite not mounting any podiums, two fourths (Cagliari and Yokohama) and a fifth (Abu Dhabi) are enough to see him lead the World Triathlon Standings with four races to go.
August 2023: Secures his home Olympics slot
Finishes third in a sprint finish behind Vasco Vilaça to meet the French team's automatic Olympic qualification criteria of a podium finish at the Test Event.
He now sits fifth in the standings with just the Grand Final to go.
September 2023: Wins his first world title in another shock result for Team France
Like last year's surprise Grand Final victory for teammate Léo Bergere, Coninx capitalises on poor races from the No.1 and No.2 athletes, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde, to sprint for victory at the line, win the race, and take the title.
Dorian Coninx in quotes
On unexpectedly winning his first World Series race in Bermuda in 2019: “I think it’s the first time since I started racing in the World Series that I didn’t have any expectations. I’ve been feeling so disappointed since the beginning of the season. I was like ‘I don’t care’. But I’m going to race more like this from now on. I’m going to try for more wins, but mostly I’ll be looking to race for pleasure.”
On scoring a second World Series win in French-speaking Montreal in 2021: “It’s crazy but it’s nice. I like it when it’s fast. I like this racing. And it’s very nice to be on a podium with Vincent and Léo – all French. It’s a good feeling.”
On outsprinting local hero Kristian Blummenfelt at the World Cup race in Bergen last year: “It was a really hard race and I don’t know how I found the legs to sprint to the finish and win. The atmosphere was just astonishing. I can only thank Bergen.”
On winning his first world title in 2023: “I just wanted a nice race, but this is way better than expected."
What’s next for Dorian Coninx?
Like all French triathletes, medalling at next year’s Paris Olympics is the undoubted target, at which Coninx will be aiming to add individual success to accompany the multiple world titles he’s held as part of France’s crack mixed relay squad.
Top image credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images
