Olympic tennis champion aces triathlon by completing the brutal IRONMAN World Championship

Monica Puig has scaled some incredible sporting summits in her life, but Sunday in Nice saw her achieve an epic new goal in triathlon’s IRONMAN World Championship.

The 30-year-old Puerto Rican tennis star wrote her name into the history books eight years ago in Rio when she claimed tennis gold at the 2016 Olympics. But her career on court was ended by injury in 2022.

Monica found her new sporting goals provided by endurance sports, taking up marathon running with then partner and now husband Nathan Rakitt. Eventually triathlon came onto the agenda, and the Holy Grail for all swim/bike/runners – Ironman.

There is no greater test of a triathlete than taking part in the IRONMAN World Championship – a 2.4-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike and then a 26.2mile marathon to finish off. All against the cream of the world’s Pro and Age Group talent.

On Sunday in Nice, France, Monica lined up for her first attempt at the distance – talk about a baptism of fire. But we need not have worried, just under 14 hours later it would be a case of mission accomplished on the Cote d’Azur.

Monica Puig’s IMWC in Nice

Racing under the name Monica Rakitt, she started her day on the French Riviera by completing the swim in 1:31:48, before moving on to that brutally challenging bike course up into the mountains and then back down into Nice. Again she came safely through, this time after 7:57:30 in the saddle. Now all that was left was the small matter of that marathon.

Monica would later admit that she had wanted to quit more than once during this epic test of endurance, but she refused to give up and finished the marathon course in 4:09:14 for an overall time of 13:57:25.

In the aftermath of her terrific achievement, Monica wrote a detailed four-part recap of her day on her Instagram account – providing an in-depth blow-by-blow account of her race.

‘Every kind of emotion’

The final instalment read: “13 hours and 57 minutes of every kind of emotion. The day was long, the course was hard, I think I questioned myself so many times. I wanted to quit so many times.

“But I’m grateful to @nrakitt for pushing me on when I didn’t want to. For @astridpuig1 for supporting me and encouraging me every step of the way. And my team @monicarodriguezocasio @danielramoslecosh @lecoshendurance for believing in me and in this challenge that we had before us and for preparing me despite a super challenging schedule.

“This was bigger than me. The Ironman World Championship was a celebration of more than 1,400 women who showed so much grit and grace out there. I feel so lucky to be a part of this world and to have shared the course with all these incredible humans 💜”