Bangladesh’s top triathlete Shamsuzzaman Arafat completed the Ironman World Championship for the second time in consecutive years but this time, he competed better against the best athletes from around the world.
A total of 2,186 participants from 93 countries took part in the Ironman World Championship in Nice, including five from Bangladesh.
Four Bangladeshi participants finished the race while the other became sick after swimming and was taken to hospital immediately.
Arafat was the fastest Bangladeshi to finish the race, clocking 11 hours 31 minutes and 8 seconds.
As for the other Bangladeshi participants, Arifur Rahman took 13 hours 12 minutes and 23 seconds, Mishu Biswas finished in 13 hours 41 minutes and 18 seconds while Shubho De required 15 hours 28 minutes and 34 seconds.
Arafat, racing in No 820, needed 1 hour 10 minutes and 48 seconds to finish 3.8km swim before completing 180km cycling in 6 hours 35 minutes and 51 seconds.
He then finished 42.2km marathon in 3 hours 33 minutes and 2 seconds.
Arafat eventually emerged 129th out of 222 athletes in his age group, and 708th overall out of 1,998 finishers among 2,186 starters.
Two weeks ago, he finished Ironman 70.3 World Championship for the second time, in Lahti, Finland.
He said: “It’s the journey of being the best version of myself, I try to be better every day, I am improving, this is my happiness. We have just started but came a long way. I think there is no bar to become the best and I consider it a lifelong journey! I never competed against anyone, I just competed against myself in every single moment! I feel good when I see my country’s flag flying in the world’s top triathlon stage! This is an insane feeling, it can’t be expressed in words.”
Arafat, who works in Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, as deputy director, is the first Bangladeshi finisher at the Ironman World Championship and Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
This time he represented Bangladesh in four Ironman World Championship events.
He is going to participate at the Berlin Marathon as he dreams of completing the six major marathons of the world.
His journey is sponsored by Apex Lingerie Limited and Meghna Group of Industries while Nutri Plus supports him as nutrition partner.
