Multisport Merit Badge
The eight requirements, with the four format options drawn as the four options they are, and the Swimming merit badge drawn where it actually blocks: in front of requirements 5 through 8, on three of the four routes.
9 steps (62 parts inside them). 49 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Multisport Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 2 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 2 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
Your progress
63 steps can be started now; 6 are waiting on something else.
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The steps
Stage 1 of 5
1 step
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1. Know what goes wrong, and what to do about it Requirement
Two conversations with your counselor before any training starts: the hazards of multisport, and first aid for the injuries it produces.
Stage 2 of 5
5 steps
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2. Health, habits and diet Requirement
Three conversations about the body you are about to train hard, including one about your own medical history.
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4. Learn the disciplines your format uses Requirement
All of one option, matching the format you chose in requirement 3(d). Each option is built from the same swimming, biking and running blocks.
Usually comes after 3(d). Choose your format. This decides the rest.
40 parts, 1 ticked
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4(A)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first Optional May not apply Often forgotten This is an entire other merit badge, with its own counselor, its own blue card and its own swim tests, and it blocks requirements 5 through 8: the training, the transitions, the race and the follow-up. Budget for it before you pick triathlon. If you have not earned Swimming and do not intend to, duathlon is the format that does not need it.
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4(C)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first Optional May not apply Often forgotten This is an entire other merit badge and it blocks requirements 5 through 8, in the same words as the triathlon option. If you have not earned Swimming and do not intend to, duathlon is the only format that does not need it.
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4(D)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first Optional May not apply Often forgotten This is an entire other merit badge and it blocks requirements 5 through 8, in the same words as the triathlon option. If you have not earned Swimming and do not intend to, duathlon is the only format that does not need it.
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5. Four weeks of training, tracked as you go Requirement
A plan built with your counselor, a record kept while it runs, a goal set at the start, and a conversation at the end. Four weeks is four weeks.
Usually comes after 3(d). Choose your format. This decides the rest, 4(A)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first and 2 others.
Four weeks is a calendar, not a task. It cannot be compressed and it cannot be started retrospectively, so it is usually the longest single thing on this plan. Set the goal in 5(c) at the beginning: a goal written at the end has nothing to measure against.
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6. Learn the transition area Task
Where the bike gear and running gear live during a race, and how to move from one leg to the next smoothly and safely: mounting and dismounting, and adjusting gear. This is the multisport-specific skill.
Usually comes after 4(A)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first, 4(C)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first and 4(D)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first.
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8. Do two of five, and discuss them Requirement
The badge asks for TWO, each discussed with your counselor. Two of the five depend on somebody else running an event.
Usually comes after 4(A)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first, 4(C)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first and 4(D)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first.
5 parts
Stage 3 of 5
1 step
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3. Work out where you stand, then pick your format Requirement
Three conversations about your own experience and the equipment, then the decision that shapes the rest of the badge.
4 parts, 1 ticked
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3(d). Choose your format. This decides the rest Often forgotten This is the decision the badge turns on, and it is cheap to make and expensive to change. It picks which of requirement 4's four options you do, what requirement 5 trains for, and which race you finish in requirement 7. Three of the four formats also put the whole Swimming merit badge in front of requirements 5 through 8. Settle it here, with your counselor, before you train for anything.
Stage 4 of 5
1 step
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7. The race: one day, consecutive, with transitions Requirement
After requirements 1 to 6. All the activities on the same day and one after another, for the format you chose, with a smooth and safe transition demonstrated between each leg.
Usually comes after 4(A)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first, 4(C)(1)(a). Earn the Swimming merit badge first and 7 others.
One day, and the legs run consecutively, not three sessions in a week. It also comes after requirements 1 to 6, which the badge states outright, so the four weeks of training in requirement 5 have to be finished first.
4 parts
Stage 5 of 5
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 7. The race: one day, consecutive, with transitions and 8. Do two of five, and discuss them.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.