Zdeno Chara is continuing his post-retirement career as an endurance athlete, finishing his first Ironman last week in Kalmar, Sweden. After a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride, Chara, 47, ran a full marathon to end the race with a time of 10:40:48.
The legendary Boston Bruin and former Capital has thrown himself into running since hanging up his skates in fall of 2022, completing eight marathons in less than two years. While he’s branched out into triathlons in the past, the race in Kalmar marked his first time competing in a full Ironman.
“It was absolutely amazing,” Chara said afterwards. “The fans, the people of Kalmar and Swedish people are so amazing. I owe them the whole race. I could not believe how many signs and posters and music and cheers and it was just, it was spectacular. So thank you so much Kalmar and thank you so much to all the fans who came out to support us during the race.”
Chara trained for just three months before his debut at the 2023 Boston Marathon, where he earned a time of 3:38:24. Since then, he’s only sped up, setting a personal best time of 3:10:24 at the Houston Marathon in January. After more than six hours of swimming and biking in Kalmar, Chara completed the Ironman run leg in just 3:48:54. He finished the full race with a rank of 409th overall and placed 60th in his division.
Ahead of the race, Chara told Barometern that competing in triathlons was a natural transition after retiring from the NHL.
“I always enjoyed the long distance training for hockey seasons, so after I retired I wanted to stay in shape; I wanted to be active,” he said. “And so biking, running became the daily routine. Added swimming to it and so why not? I’ve got to still do something, be active. It’s a lot of fun: you meet a lot of great people and you’re learning a lot.”
Now Chara has set his sights on Kona, Hawaii, where he will compete in the 2024 Ironman World Championship on October 26.
