World Triathlon executive board member Liber Garcia breached the governing body's anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy in the lead-up to its 2024 presidential election, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in a verdict published on Tuesday.
Antonio Fernandez Arimany won the election to succeed fellow Spaniard Marisol Casado as president.
Michelle Cooper, the former president of Australia's triathlon governing body who ran for the presidency of the global ruling body, lodged a complaint last year alleging election misconduct.
Uruguayan Garcia, president of Americas Triathlon, was given a warning as the CAS partially upheld a March 2025 decision by the World Triathlon Tribunal and said a predetermined "favorites list" influenced the outcome of the elections and that some candidates were encouraged to withdraw.
"While I was disappointed the CAS panel reduced (Garcia's) sanction to a warning, the key outcome remains unchanged: misconduct occurred. The finding of guilt stands," Cooper wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
"Sport governance must not become theatre, where ethical breaches are acknowledged but not acted on. We have the ruling. We have the facts. Now we need the action. Let this be the moment we all say: enough."
The verdict comes less than two weeks after the publication of a wide-ranging report on the current state and future of triathlon, which has faced problems due to differing governing bodies, changing formats and struggles for commercial and TV backing.
The report called for creating a unified commercial ecosystem, focusing on festival-style formats and investing in mass participation in the swim-bike-run sport.