On November 7, 2020 Chris Nikic completed his first- ever Ironman. He was born in 1999 with Down syndrome and had open-heart surgery at five months old. He couldn’t walk until the age of four years old.
On New Year’s Eve of 2019, Chris told his father Nick, that he had a dream. He told his dad that he wanted to start his own business and have his own family.
Nick had an idea that Chris would be the first Down Syndrome to complete a full Ironman marathon.That’s a 3.8km (2.4 miles) swim, a 180km (112 miles) bicycle ride, and a full marathon run of 42.2km (26.2 miles) to finish. And you only have 17 hours to finish.
His dad set him up with a trainer to start training each day and Chris’s goal is to become one percent better in each activity. He kept going even when things got difficult throughout this marathon.
In November 2020, just 11 months after starting his journey to compete in the Ironman journey he finished at 16 hours 46 minutes and 9 seconds, and throughout the difficulties, he kept going and showed everyone that whatever you put your mind to, you can do it.
