Aichlinn O'Reilly becomes first Irishman to complete Ironman in under 8 hours

Aichlinn O'Reilly is the first Irish man to finish an Ironman in under eight hours, with a time of 7.59.04.

He finished sixth in the pro men's race in the Busselton Ironman in Western Australia today.

O'Reilly, 28, from Westport, Co Mayo, has relocated to Perth, Australia. Over the last year he has been preparing for the event, with a successful conclusion.

For the last seven weeks he "trained full time and worked incredibly hard swimming, cycling and running," his girlfriend Maeve said.

He swam 3.9km in 47 minutes, 46 seconds, cycled 180km in 4 hours 11minutes, 31 seconds and ran a marathon in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 13 seconds.

Maeve added: "This is an Irish record and an incredible achievement. Aichlinn has done triathlon since he was 16 years old. He has a bright future ahead of him, racing the Ironman distance. He is a brilliant endurance athlete and is ready to make his mark. This is only the beginning."

The previous record was 8.07.37 by Bryan McCyrstal in Challenge Roth in 2018.