Photo: imago/Ingo Kutsche
It started 106 days ago. In the early morning of May 9th, triathlete Jonas Deichmann climbed into the foggy Rothsee in Middle Franconia for the first time – with the plan to repeat this ritual for four months. Since then, the 37-year-old has been swimming 3.8 kilometers through the Bavarian reservoir every day in all weathers, then cycling 180 kilometers through the neighboring villages and finally running 42.2 kilometers every day over the entire marathon distance – all on the legendary triathlon route about Roth.
The Stuttgart native is aiming for a record – probably the biggest record ever in endurance sports. Under the title “Challenge 120,” Deichmann wants to complete a complete Ironman triathlon on 120 days in a row. When he started in May, he called it “the greatest sporting challenge” of his life. And that’s saying something. After all, the extreme athlete has already completed a 14-month triathlon around the globe and a duathlon across the USA.
He reached the previous record for total daily expenditure on Wednesday. In 2023, Briton Sean Conway completed 105 Ironmans in a row. Deichmann now wants to add another fifteen by September 5th. If he makes it, he will have swum a total of 456 kilometers, cycled 21,600 kilometers and ran 5,064 kilometers. The man from Stuttgart receives some support in the last few kilometers. When the new record was set last Thursday, over twenty amateur athletes jumped into the water with him. However, they can now rest again while Jonas Deichmann continues to swim, cycle and run.
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