Jhansi army engineer fastest Indian to finish Ironman Malaysia triathlon

JHANSI: A 39-year-old army officer posted in Jhansi is among the 24 Indians who finished the Ironman Triathlon in Langkawi, Malaysia, last week.
Lt Col Swaroop Singh Kuntal, a native of Mathura, completed the triple endurance challenge - comprising a 2.4-mile (3.86km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25km) bicycle ride and a 26.22-mile (42.20km) marathon, raced in that order - in 12 hours and 14 minutes against the stipulated time of 17 hours to top the Indian contingent of 30 participants.Organised by the World Triathlon Corporation since 1978, the Ironman challenge is considered one of the toughest one-day sporting events in the world.
There are over three dozen Ironman Triathlon races held across the globe. Based on a point ranking system, the top 50 male and top 35 female professional athletes qualify for the Ironman World Championships held in Hawaii. Amateur athletes, on the other hand, qualify for the world meet by receiving slots allocated to each age group's top finishers in a qualifying event.
The Langkawi leg of Ironman Triathlon on October 26 saw 2,000-odd participants from 70 countries. As many as 1,000, including Kuntal and 23 other Indians, finished the challenge within the stipulated time. Spaniard Javier Gomez won the 2019 Ironman Malaysia title by completing the whole race in 8 hours and 18 minutes.
An IITian and a paratrooper with the Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (EME) Corps of Indian Army, Kuntal has won many marathons and ultra-marathons in the past.