Chris Nikic is an American Ironman Triathlon athlete. He gained international fame after he became the first person with Down syndrome to finish one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world, the Ironman Triathlon. In 2020, he completed the Ironman Florida triathlon in 16 hours 46 minutes nine seconds by first swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles, and then running a 26.2-mile marathon.
While completing the triathlon marathon, he also set the Guinness World Record of becoming the first person with Down syndrome to finish an Ironman triathlon. He achieved the feat just at the age of 21. His father Nik Nikic encouraged him to achieve something great. Let’s know more about Chris Nikic who has now become an inspiration to many with Down syndrome across the world.
1. Chris Nikic Grew up in Florida.
Chris Nikic was born and raised in Florida. He was born in 1999. His father’s name is Nik Nikic. More details about her family will be updated soon.
Source: [email protected]
2. Chris Nikic Underwent Surgery at Premature age.
Chris Nikic went through a lot since his childhood. He was only 5 months old when he had open-heart surgery.
3. Chris Nikic did not walk until four years old
Chris Nikic was not able to work properly while growing up. He was not able to walk well. He slowly started walking properly after he was four years old.
Source: @bbc
4. Chris Nikic did not eat solid food in his childhood.
Chris Nikic faced several issues while growing up. Having had open-heart surgery at just 5 months old and not being able to walk well until four years old, he was not able to eat properly as well. He started to eat solid foods properly only after he reached the age of 5.
5. Chris Nikic Trained with Dan Grieb.
Chris Nikic trained with Dan Grieb. Grieb has completed 16 Ironman races. Grieb completed Ironman races four to eight hours each day for around a year.
6. Chris Nikic started exercising at the age of 18.
Chris Nikic started exercising in 2017. He started exercising with a single pushup. He had made up his mind to work hard and aimed to improve his performance by 1% each day.
Source: @dailytelegraph
7. Chris Nikic completed the Ironman Triathlon within time.
Chris Nikic who has Down syndrome completed the Ironman Triathlon in 16 hours 46 minutes and 9 seconds. He completed the triathlon less than 14 minutes under the official cut-off time.
Source: @cnn
8. Chris Nikic holds a Guinness World Record.
Chris Nikic holds the Guinness World record for becoming the first person with down syndrome to complete the Ironman triathlon.
9. Chris Nikic is active on Social Media.
Chris Nikic is active on social media. His social media presence has helped him to reach more people and inspire many with his story. He has over 81.3k followers on his Instagram @chrisnikic. He is also active on Twitter with nearly 5k followers.
10. Chris Nikic is a Motivational Speaker.
As Chris Nikic has Down syndrome, his life is not normal unlike other normal people to have. Despite having Down syndrome, Nikic never stood back. He dreamt of achieving something. He started public speaking encouraging other people with Down syndrome to step up. Today, he is one of the popular public speakers.
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