Ludovic Chorgnon is no novice when it comes to crazy bets: in 2015, he had lined up 41 Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run) in 41 days.

Far from being satisfied, he continues to defy the impossible and now plans to swim in 0°C water and then cycle and run in freezing temperatures in Rovaniemi, Finland.

Installed since last summer in Reunion, this fifties had no choice but to invest in freezers of large surfaces to be a little bit connected to the cold.

"I find it fun to run in the freezers, I've never been so ready to experience a new challenge, it's like the Christmas tree!"

he has fun with AFP as he embarks on his polar Ironman ("Iron-cold") on February 25, under the watchful eye of a judge from the International Triathlon Federation for a approval.

"50 degrees in sight!"

"The idea was to rework all the details: how I eat, how I change my outfit. In my preparation, I imagine myself in emergency mode. I have to know everything by heart to succeed as quickly as possible. Eating when it's very cold is very complicated. When your nose is freezing, how to scratch yourself, take out the glove, etc. All that I can't invent on D-Day", underlines the runner from Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher).

At the Port, he runs between 4 and 10 km every day, always in the same freezer, at -23°C.

Once the session is over, it's the thermal shock.

"It hurts! You take more than 50 degrees in the view! You feel like you have run for dozens of hours, you are exhausted for a quarter of an hour and then you are fine. The body is a magnificent tool “, he slips.

Ludovic Chorgnon trains in a giant freezer at Port, Reunion Island, January 17, 2022 Richard BOUHET AFP/Archives

But his own body is not quite like that of the average person, explains the doctor who follows him.

"From a physiological point of view, he is special, we can't make him gain fat mass. He engulfs about 10,000 calories a day, that's five times more than a normal adult. sumos, for example, take between 15,000 and 20,000 calories a day. Its strength today is its ability to recover," comments Dr. Alain Aumaréchal to AFP.

Body temperature at 31°

For the doctor, the main danger during the challenge to the Arctic Circle is swimming and the hypothermia that can result from it.

"Swimming in water at 0°C then the warming is a problem", he raises.

"Swimming is by far the most dangerous," agrees Chorgnon, who swims in water at 30°C in a swimming pool in Reunion.

"And also the transitions: getting out of the water, undressing. You can be very cold on the bike because you have immobile parts like your hands on the handlebars, which you don't have in racing. I'm in control of racing. and that's really my thing."

Ludovic Chorgnon trains in the sun on Boucan-Canot beach on Reunion Island, January 18, 2022 Richard BOUHET AFP/Archives

Chorgnon has not forgotten that his body temperature dropped to 31°C during the French Ice Water Championships (water at 3°C).

He then stopped because his limit is the one set by his doctor, whom he listens to without asking questions when he says "stop".

"The idea is not to stop, not to sleep. The only time allowed is for my safety", insists the sportsman, who discovered Ironman only fifteen years ago.

© 2022 AFP