‘I was taking on a monumental challenge’: racing driver Billy Monger on why being a double amputee hasn’t slowed him down

After a horrifying crash, Billy Monger lost both his legs at 17. But from dancing on Strictly to setting a world record in the Ironman, he’s still powering ahead. Just don’t call him an ‘inspiration’…

When Billy Monger signed up to compete in the 2024 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, he knew almost nothing about the event. But after a morning genning up on YouTube, the 25-year-old from Surrey was left pretty well traumatised. Straight away, there were the distances involved:

Even the hardiest professional athletes describe Kona as one of the most extreme single-day endurance events in the world. For Monger, who has been a double amputee since losing both legs in a horror motor-racing crash in 2017, the challenge seemed almost insurmountable. Before the event, he didn’t even really know how to do front crawl. Since his accident, the furthest that Monger had run was 5km, before the discomfort around his prosthetics became too much and he had to stop and remove his leg sockets.

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