62 Facts About Chrissie Wellington

Christine Ann Wellington was born on 18 February 1977 and is an English former professional triathlete and four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion.

Chrissie Wellington held all three world and championship records relating to ironman-distance triathlon races: firstly, the overall world record, secondly, the Ironman World Championship course record, and thirdly, the official world record for all Ironman-branded triathlon races over the full Ironman distance.

Chrissie Wellington is the first British athlete to hold the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, and was undefeated in all thirteen of her races over the ironman distance.

Chrissie Wellington lowered the world record on all three occasions she raced Challenge Roth at Roth in Bavaria, Germany.

Chrissie Wellington is actively involved in supporting charities relating to international development and supporting and encouraging women and girls to take up sport.

Chrissie Wellington became, after meeting the parents of Jon Blais at her first world championship, an ambassador for the Blazeman Foundation, performing a "Blazeman roll" in his memory at the finish line of all her triathlon races since then.

Chrissie Wellington was a founding member of Le Tour Entier, which campaigned for a Women's Tour de France and improvements to women's cycling generally.

Christine Chrissie Wellington was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and grew up in Feltwell, a small village in Norfolk.

Chrissie Wellington was a competitive swimmer as a teenager, when she swam for Thetford Dolphins, and went on to swim for her university.

Chrissie Wellington describes herself as a "sporty kid, swimming, playing hockey, running, but never excelling and always more interested in the social side of the sports scene".

Disillusioned with "bureaucracy and paper pushing", in September 2004 Chrissie Wellington took sabbatical leave from DEFRA to work in Nepal for Rural Reconstruction Nepal, a Nepalese development NGO.

Chrissie Wellington performed many other tasks for RRN, including preparing project proposals, editing books and writing papers.

Chrissie Wellington left this job in February 2007 in order to become a professional triathlete.

Chrissie Wellington would go running along the many hilly trails in the Kathmandu valley.

Chrissie Wellington finished 2nd in this race, despite having no previous kayaking experience, apart from some brief training before the race.

Chrissie Wellington had previously run the London Marathon for charity in 2002, finishing in 3:08:17, making her the fastest woman from her running club in that race.

Chrissie Wellington had hoped to improve her marathon time in the April 2003 London Marathon, but in March she collided with a car while riding her commuter bike in Clapham.

Chrissie Wellington enjoyed some success in B and C grade cross-country events around London, winning several races including the South of Thames Championship in December 2006.

Chrissie Wellington turned professional with the intention of racing standard-distance events, and enjoyed early success, winning Olympic-distance events in Bangkok and Subic Bay, then returned to the UK where she won the sprint-distance event at Bleinheim.

Chrissie Wellington returned to winning form only six days later, at the shorter Zurich triathlon.

On 1 August 2007, Chrissie Wellington took on her toughest challenge to date, the long-distance Alpe d'Huez Triathlon, known for its difficult summer heat, its altitude, and its hard climbs on both the bike and running stages.

Chrissie Wellington said I was ready even on the training I was doing.

On 13 October 2007, Chrissie Wellington won the Ironman world championship title at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, together with US$110,000 prize money.

Chrissie Wellington finished in 9:08:45, five minutes ahead of Samantha McGlone, running the marathon leg in 2:59:58, the second-fastest time recorded to date by a woman on the Hawaii course.

At the Ironman Australia Triathlon in April 2008, her first Ironman since Hawaii, Chrissie Wellington again won by a margin of five minutes, finishing 9th overall.

Spectators were aware throughout the race that Chrissie Wellington was close to breaking the world record, but she did not know exactly what it was, and in any case preferred to slow down to celebrate her victory over the last few kilometres, exchanging greetings and hi-fives with the crowd.

Chrissie Wellington's coach said that her plan was "to do it as easy as possible" once she had got to the front.

Chrissie Wellington recorded the fastest overall time for the ascent of les 21 virages.

At her previous two attempts on the half-Ironman distance, Chrissie Wellington had finished 5th and 3rd.

Two weeks after her Timberman win, Chrissie Wellington met the ironman-distance world record holder, Yvonne van Vlerken on the latter's home ground at Almere in an eagerly-awaited clash for the ITU long distance World Championship title.

Two weeks later, Chrissie Wellington announced that, instead of Cliff English her new coach would be Simon Lessing.

In October, Chrissie Wellington won the world championship for the third time with a new course record of 8:54:02, beating Paula Newby-Fraser's record of 8:55:28 which had stood since 1992.

Chrissie Wellington's victory was described as "stunning" and "even more dominant" than usual.

Chrissie Wellington didn't take a moment to enjoy until she crossed the line.

Chrissie Wellington required surgery under general anaesthetic to insert wires into her arm and wrist and had to wear a cast on her arm for six weeks.

Chrissie Wellington later acknowledged that the crash had a positive outcome, enforcing a mental and physical break and enabling her to focus on other areas of improvement such as her strength and to properly resolve her hamstring problems, which had been hampering her running.

Chrissie Wellington's winning margin over second-placed Rebekah Keat was greater than her time behind the winning man.

Chrissie Wellington's time was the third-fastest female ironman-distance time to date, beaten only by her two records in Roth.

Not only did Chrissie Wellington set new female bike, run and course records, but her marathon time of 2:52:54 was faster than all of the men.

Chrissie Wellington's marathon time of 2:44:35 was a new world record.

Chrissie Wellington received severe road rash on her left leg and injuries to her left elbow and hip.

Chrissie Wellington could manage no more than two lengths, in pain she later described as "excruciating".

Chrissie Wellington had to be lifted out of the pool, and given crutches to enable her to walk; her boyfriend Tom Lowe and coach Dave Scott had to carry her back to her car.

Chrissie Wellington's condition improved over the remaining three days before the race, thanks in part to a new course of antibiotics, and continued ART and acupuncture treatments.

In public, consistent with her mantra of "never give your opponents anything", Chrissie Wellington admitted to little more than road rash, but journalists at the pre-race press conference were, correctly, able to detect a different, less confident, attitude in Chrissie Wellington before the race.

In contrast with her previous races at Kona, where Chrissie Wellington had dominated on the bike, she started the marathon stage with five women still in front of her.

YouTube video, showing the road rash injuries to Chrissie Wellington's left leg during the 2011 Ironman World Championship race.

Chrissie Wellington's hip had been in constant pain during the bike stage, but once she started on the marathon, her hamstrings began seizing up as well.

Chrissie Wellington's body slowed down in the intense heat approaching the Energy Lab, where she passed Caroline Steffen to gain the lead.

Chrissie Wellington crossed the finish line with a marathon time of 2:52:41, winning in an overall time of 8:55:08.

Chrissie Wellington would be able to devote more time to her charity work, to raising the profile of triathlon in the UK, and to representing her sponsors.

Chrissie Wellington referred to the World Ironman Championships in 2011, with the enormous difficulties she overcame on that occasion, as her "perfect race", the race which "completed" her.

Chrissie Wellington would continue to be associated with the sport, but not as a professional racer.

Chrissie Wellington first discovered parkrun when she came across 300 people lining up in Richmond Park on a Saturday morning, and spontaneously decided to take part.

In February 2013, Chrissie Wellington joined parkrun's staff as Head of Participation.

Chrissie Wellington later became its Head of Health and Wellbeing.

In June 2019, Chrissie Wellington completed the Comrades Marathon, one of the world's toughest ultra marathons.

Chrissie Wellington has said she has two passions in life: sport and development.

Chrissie Wellington noted, from her experience in Nepal, how sport can bring conflict-affected communities together.

Chrissie Wellington has kicked around for years through South East Asia, working for underprivileged people.

Chrissie Wellington was named the 2009 Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year at an awards ceremony on 23 November 2009, ahead of Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton in an online public vote.

Chrissie Wellington was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to ironman triathlons and promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to sport and charity.