Wahoo has announced its first multi-sport GPS watch, the Wahoo Elemnt Rival. The new watch aims to offer tracking and training data to cyclists, runners and triathletes and it has a trick up its sleeve to make transitions smoother.

One of the functions that the Elemnt Rival will offer is a seamless handover between watch and Elemnt bike computers. You can just jump on your bike and have the data readout on your bike so you don't have to keep looking at your watch.

There's also no fiddling with buttons in transition, because the Rival will automatically transition without through the different stages of your race so you don't have to poke buttons, which - let's face it - you always forget to do as soon as you exit the swim.

Elsewhere the Elemnt Rival offers GPS and heart rate tracking, slotting into the Wahoo ecosystem and offering support for ANT+ and Bluetooth sensors, so it can be the hub of a wider system of devices if that's what you want.

Pair the Rival with the Tickrx heart rate monitor and you'll get advanced running dynamics, in the same way that Garmin offers more data if you use its heart rate strap connected to a watch. More data means more ways to train and see what your body is doing - something that's likely to appeal to multi-sport athletes.

It can also control Wahoo's smart indoor trainers, like the Wahoo Kickr, for more enhanced indoor training.

Open water and pool swimming is supported, with advanced data like stroke count and SWOLF supported. Cyclists get a full collection of metrics, like ascent and descent - as well as live tracking - while runners get support for treadmills as well as regular running metrics.

The watch has a ceramic bezel around the display and there's a good rugged look to it. The display is 31.26mm/1.23in with 240 x 240 pixel resolution, while the watch measures 46.5 x 46.5 x 12.5mm. Its claimed to offer a 14-day battery life, which would put it on a par with something like the Garmin Forerunner 945.

What might be attractive is the £349.99 price, which places the Wahoo Elemnt Rival favourably in this competitive market - but we'll have to fully review the watch to see how it copes against established rivals.