Ironman Triathlon History: For the first time in the competition's documented history, the 27-year-old finished the race on the autistic continuum: Sam Hollens, set this exciting precedent, last Saturday as he crossed the finish line of the Ironman 70.3 competition in Sense George, Utah.
The British triathlete is on the autism spectrum and to meet the huge physical and mental challenge he trained especially for the competition in the last year and managed to finish the overall assignments including: 1.2 miles (1.9 miles), 56 miles (90 miles) of cycling and 13.1 Miles (21 miles) of running.
All this in not easy weather conditions at all that included rain, lightning storm and sandstorm.
Sam Hollens completed the entire course in 5 hours and 44 minutes, with some of the assignments challenging the most significant and favorite participants of the competition at his age.
"I feel very proud," the youngster told CBS at the end of the competition, adding that "I am really looking forward to rehearsing for the next competitions in the field."
Sam's father, Tony, said that "all our family wants is to see Sam safe."
Sam's two parents, who were present at the event, burst into tears as it crossed the finish line.
Tony added that "sometimes what is right to do when there is difficulty is to join the race rather than sit on the sidelines and watch everyone without participating."
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The proud father who resigned from his job to coach his son added that "as a coach, it's great. As a parent, it's just amazing. We're now sitting with ourselves and asking is it real? Did he really succeed? Two years ago we could not have dreamed of it at all."
For the current competition Sam practiced swimming every day, rode a lot on a bike and would run between 10-20 miles a day taking short naps and performing yoga exercises at the end of the day to relax.
Sam's great interest in competition and what pushed him into the tough race began while he was studying for his degree in sports science at university.
Now the son and father duo are already planning Sam's next competition, and he wants to be defined as the first professional athlete of the competition to be on the autistic continuum.
To this end, Sam will also take part in the upcoming Iron Man competition in London on October 3, after which he will participate in another competition in Portugal on October 24, with Sam's goal being to inspire more young people on the autistic continuum.
Regarding this, Sam's father, Tony, says that "our goal is also to inspire young people on the continuum but mainly to raise awareness for such young people who are on the autistic continuum and show employers that they can also work and can be recruited to work. We do this awareness through sport and this Our main goal is the mission behind our activities. "
