Christoffer Heick breaks double Ironman world record

Christoffer Heick completed a double Ironman in 17 hours, 51 minutes and 17 seconds, cutting nearly an hour from the previous world record, DR reports.

The 29-year-old ultra-athlete from Odense Triathlon Club completed 7.6 kilometres of swimming, 360.4 kilometres of cycling and 84.4 kilometres of running in Vini, Estonia.

“I am filled with equal parts pride and a feeling of being overwhelmed at achieving a goal I have looked forward to for a long time,” Heick said.

Heick said his body was beginning to recover, although he still had pain in most parts of it, including chafing and severely sore muscles. His record will become official when he receives the result of his doping test in about three weeks.

The event involved 304 lengths in a 25-metre pool, 62 laps of a 5,847-metre cycling course and 58 laps of a 1,455-metre running course. Heick said he faced a mental challenge after running for more than two hours and covering 30 kilometres, because he still had nearly four and a half hours of running left, more than he had ever completed before.

He also vomited shortly after starting the cycling stage. “After 300 metres on the bike, I vomited in streams as thick as thighs and watered half a kilometre of road. Then I had to start replenishing my reserves from scratch,” he told P1 Morgen.

His girlfriend, Anna, helped manage his intake using an Excel spreadsheet that showed when and what he should consume. Heick said he took in about 2.5 kilograms of sugar and more than 20 litres of fluid during the roughly 18-hour event.

Heick is also head coach of the youth department at Odense Triathlon Club. He said he would focus on recovering as the season draws to a close and that he plans to return to a standard Ironman rather than attempt another double Ironman or a more demanding ultradistance event.

“If someone breaks the world record, I may come back, but as a starting point I will leave it there and let others see whether they can do something about the record,” he said.