As Natalie Grabow crossed the finish line at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii on Saturday, she heard the crowd chanting her name. The 80-year-old grandmother from New Jersey didn't even know how to swim until the age of 59, when she decided to tackle her first triathlon. Now, she's become the oldest woman ever to finish the Ironman—a difficult long-distance triathlon made up of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and a marathon run, this one with more than 1,000 feet of elevation gain. The only competitor in the women's 80-84 age group, Grabow crossed the finish line in Kona in 16 hours, 45 minutes, on a day when more than 60 of the 1,600 athletes failed to complete the race before the 17-hour cutoff time, NPR reports.
Grabow trained for two hours a day for months leading up to the race. It wasn't an ideal finish. "There was a little steep hill up to the finish line, and I think the carpeting was wrinkled there. My foot got caught, and I tripped and fell," Grabow tells Business Insider. Still, the cheers came. The first person to congratulate Grabow at the finish line was the previous record-holder, Cherie Gruenfeld, who was 78 when she set the mark in 2022. The oldest person to ever finish the race is Hiromu Inada of Japan, at age 85 in 2018. "I am so happy and grateful that I can still race in this sport at my age," Grabow tells NPR, noting it keeps her strong "both mentally and physically." Her advice for others: "If you are motivated and willing to work hard, it's never too late to take on a new challenge."
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