Zanardi completes Ironman event (Update)
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Added photos of Alex Zanardi. He beat 1,915 other competitors that had legs. Incredible feat by an incredible man.
10/13/14 Two-time CART champion and ex-Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi added to his wide-ranging list of sporting achievements by completing the famous Ironman World Championship triathlon in Hawaii last weekend.
Zanardi lost both his legs in a CART accident at the Lausitzring in 2001, but recovered to return the track in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and win Paralympic gold at the London 2012 games in handcycling.
The Italian ranked 272nd out of 2,187 finishers at the Kailua-Kona event on October 11, which began with a 2.4-mile swim, before moving on to a 112-mile bicycle ride and concluding with a 26.2-mile marathon run.
Zanardi used a wet vest to keep his body floating for the swim, his self-developed handcycle for the biking section and an Olympic wheelchair for the marathon. He finished in nine hours, 47 minutes and 14 seconds.