Daniela Ryf is a titan in the sport of triathlon, accomplishing the feat of being the only woman to defend the Ironman 70.3 World Championship title and one of only five women to defend the Ironman World Championship title.

Daniela was a mainstay on the ITU circuit and represented Switzerland at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. In 2014 she burst onto the long-course scene in a big way after coming under Brett Sutton’s tutelage and shifting her focus to half-ironman and ironman racing. In a span of four months racing long-course almost every two weeks, she scored a streak of 8 race wins including her debut Ironman in Switzerland, defense of her title at Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden, another Ironman win in Copenhagen, and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Mont Tremblant, Canada.

In 2015 she won the Ironman European Championship and became the first woman to win back-to-back Ironman 70.3 World Championships. She became a double world champion at the Ironman World Championship, winning by over 13 minutes.

The Swiss star also scored a million-dollar bonus for winning all three races of the 2015 Nasser Bin Hamad Triple Crown series, becoming triathlon’s first “million-dollar baby.”

Daniela defended her Ironman world championship crown in 2016 in even more convincing fashion, breaking the tape over 20 minutes clear of the runner-up and setting a new course record by five minutes.