Singapore’s Ben Khoo sets new IRONMAN record in Germany

Triathlete triumphs with 8:49 finish at IRONMAN Hamburg, breaking both Singapore and Southeast Asian records despite storm delays and race-day challenges

PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF

Singapore, 6 June 2025 - Singapore’s Ben Khoo has set a new national triathlon record, and South-East Asian record, at IRONMAN Hamburg in Germany last weekend.

The 34-year-old crossed the line in Hamburg’s historic city centre in 8:49:46, wiping more than 12 minutes off his own personal best from 2023, and taking almost seven minutes off the former South-East Asian record.

Khoo was one of thousands of athletes who took on the 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42.2km run at IRONMAN Hamburg, with the race delayed by an hour due to an electrical storm in the area.

“I’m incredibly relieved. My goal was to break the Singapore IRONMAN record of 9:02, and after two years of chasing it, I finally crossed the finish line in 8:49,” said Khoo. “It’s a mix of satisfaction, exhaustion, and quiet pride.”

Sunday’s race in Germany was Khoo’s third IRONMAN triathlon, after racing IRONMAN Copenhagen in 2023 and IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2024, with his latest event being far from smooth sailing.

“There was a bit of uncertainty in the morning with thunderstorms threatening to cancel the swim, but thankfully the race went ahead, and the conditions turned out to be ideal,” said Khoo. “In the swim I was seven minutes slower than expected, but I remained calm. I knew I had built enough of a buffer in training to still hit my target.

PHOTO: SPORTOGRAF

“The course was flat and windy, I rode solo for most of it and focused on sticking to my fueling strategy and pacing plan, tuning out the competition. The result was a surprising 4h32m bike split. Better than expected and it made the biggest difference in my race,” he said. “The marathon was tough, I started conservatively but hit the wall around 28km. The body did not want to move fast and I could not take in nutrition either. I dug deep and pushed through, and at 37km, found a second wind to finish strong.

“Overall, Ironman Hamburg was a fantastic experience. There was strong competition to push me along throughout the race, an amazing crowd that was cheering throughout the course, and a fast course to push me to a good finish time,” said Khoo.

The Singaporean took a lot out of the result, especially as he prepared for it in amongst his busy day-to-day life.

“It means a lot, I came up short in 2024 at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz, so this was personal redemption. More importantly, I hope it shows that you don’t need to be a full-time athlete in Singapore to perform at a high level,” he said. “I trained around a full-time job, volunteer commitments, and running two small businesses. It’s been a juggling act, but a fulfilling one.”

While Khoo went into the race wanting to lower his Singapore record he also had his eyes on a bigger target.

“My primary target was to beat the Southeast Asian record of 8:56 set by Malaysia’s Teh Kuok Yuen. Once I got off the bike and saw I had 3h15 to run the marathon, I knew I had a real shot,” he said. “I stayed patient, executed my plan, and brought it home.

“I have no concrete plans for what’s next yet, I’m taking a bit of downtime to recover. But I’ve already looked at my splits and found areas where I can still improve. Let’s just say, this might not be the end of the story,” he said. #IRONMANHamburg #TeamSingapore