"A fight for self-worth, strength and healing," Julia Skala on world's toughest triathlon

German long-distance triathlete Julia Skala finished in the top 20 at the IRONMAN World Championship last year and inside the top 10 at Challenge Roth.

They are the two biggest full-distance triathlons in the world – but last weekend the 30-year-old took on an even bigger challenge.

It was again a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a marathon but everything is on a different scale at the Norseman, described as “the world’s toughest triathlon”.

The swim starts in the dark when athletes jump off a ferry into a freezing cold Fjord and it’s rounded off with a marathon which finishes with a brutal climb up Gaustatoppen – or Zombie Hill, the highest mountain in Norway.

The jump at the Norseman 2025 — Athletes jump into the water from the ferry [Photo credit: NXTRI | Sylvain Cavatz]

But Skala was more than equal to it – she not only dominated the women’s race to win in a record breaking time of in 11:00:23, but also finished sixth overall.

‘Unbroken’

And her journey to the race, during it and then afterwards is bring documented in a film called ‘Unbroken’ by Julian Zimmermann.

You can watch the various mini episodes via her Instagram feed, with the full film to come later.

Julia Skala wins Norseman 2025 — Julia Skala was the women’s winner – and sixth overall [Photo credit: NXTRI | Sylvain Cavatz]

And speaking in the post-race VLOG, she said: “What I actually wanted with the Norseman project for myself was to push my limits or even go beyond them.

“And I really got exactly that.

“A heartfelt thankyou to the entire Norseman crew. The fact we were even able to experience this in the way we did is, of course, only possible because people show up and keep things running behind the scenes.

“And also a huge thankyou to everyone who bought me this far – especially my support crew right here on site.”

Helping others

And she now hopes that the film – and what she achieved – will help others.

She explained: “What makes me happy is that the Norseman project isn’t really over. Instead it will be reflected on again through the documentary.

“But it’s not going to be just about the race – I’ll also be sharing my story about mental health, depression and the the goal is really to create visibility for everyone… for everyone.”