Milind Soman completed the world’s toughest endurance challenge in Florida on February 19.
Indian model and actor Milind Soman, who achieved the ‘ultraman’ tag by completing the world’s toughest endurance challenge in Florida on February 19, is now back in his hometown Mumbai.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, the 51-year old actor-turned-athlete said that he didn’t prepare for Ultraman – a three day athletic competition including open water swimming, bike ride and an ultra-marathon run.
“My whole idea of being fit is not having to train for anything. That is the fitness level I aim to maintain. The challenge for me this time was to see if I could complete Ultraman without specifically training for it,” he said.
Soman told the newspaper that he thinks that he is fitter now at 51 than he was 22 years ago, when he attracted so many fans with his appearance in Alisha Chinai’s hit album Made In India.
“When I look back, even now, I am amazed because I did not build that body specifically for made in India. It came from years of vigorous swimming. In fact, the video was shot seven years after I’d stopped swimming,” he told the English daily, adding that he trains to better his performance and not the way he looks.
He also said that he did prepare for his first triathlon, Ironman, two years ago in Zurich.
“I was a really bad cyclist then, and was swimming after 25 years. So I didn’t know I could actually swim the 3.8 km and cycle the 180 km required for Ironman,” he said.
Soman participated in the 2017 Ultraman Florida’s 3-day ‘Ultra-Endurance Event’ that concluded on February 19 along with four other sporting enthusiasts from India. He finished the marathon in 41st place after a grueling 10 kilometer swim, 421 kilometer bike ride, and 84.4 kilometers of running in a span of three days and he did it all barefoot.
“I experiment with the opportunities I get, and do whatever interests me at the time,” Soman said.
Soman’s next challenge is to run Badwater- a 135-mile annual race in California’s Death Valley, the newspaper reported.
He is also the co-founder and brand ambassador of India’s biggest women’s run Pinkathon, which now enjoys presence in 12 cities.