Billy Monger says he almost reached breaking point after battling jellyfish stings and crosswinds on his way to breaking the Ironman record for a double amputee at the World Championships.
The 25-year-old former racing driver completed the 226.3 km (140.6 mi) course in Kona, Hawaii on Sunday in 14 hours 23 minutes and 56 seconds, more than two hours less than the previous record.
Monger completed the 3.8km swim in 1:07:29, the 180km cycle in 7:26:50 and the marathon run in 5:26:26 and said he “never dreamed in a million years” he would break the record with such a margin.
“I think the mental strength required to organize an event of such duration almost broke me at times,” Monger told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“While swimming, I was stung by a jellyfish in the first hundred meters. That set the tone for the pain that was to come my way.
“Then towards the end of the swim I got stung by an even bigger jellyfish. I was lucky because some people getting stung can completely disqualify you from the race.”
Monger had his legs amputated after he was involved in a near-fatal crash while racing at Donington Park in 2017.
He has since moved into broadcasting, starring in the BBC series Celebrity Race Across the World and completing Billy’s Big Challenge in 2021, when he walked, cycled and kayaked across Britain and raised more than £3 million for Comic Relief .
In addition to the jellyfish stings, Monger mentioned a point 90km into the cycle as one of the “moments where it was a real battle”.
“It was a very tough climb and that, with the huge crosswinds coming into play and the fact that I’m a double amputee and my right leg has most of my strength, means that balance is affected,” he explained .
“That was a bit of a struggle and I had to fight my way up the long steep hill.”
Parlympic Games LA 2028 ‘a possibility’
One of Monger’s legs is amputated above the knee and the other below. His prosthetics were adjusted to make running more comfortable.
When Surrey-born Monger started training, he struggled to run a 5k without feeling pain from his prosthetics, but the biggest change he made was to his running style.
“We’ve had to reinvent how I walk throughout this whole journey and process,” he explained.
“When I first started running on prosthetic legs, I ran in a conventional manner, rather than circumduction, which you might see in the way Paralympic runners run.
“Eventually I went to that running style and that changed the game for us.”
Monger acknowledged that representing TeamGB at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games in the paratriathlon may be on his radar in the future.
“Funnily enough, after spending a year of my life training for triathlon and the Kona Ironman, my trainers Mark and Will have slowly been giving me a bit of a hint about LA in 2028,” he added. .
“It’s certainly something they’ve just made me think about, that the Paralympics are in four years’ time, but it could be a possibility.
“I have enjoyed the training process for Kona and I have learned a lot through this whole experience, so I would definitely never say never.”
