IRONMAN athletes were attacked by JELLYFISH while competing in the world championships in Hawaii as they feared for their lives.
The brutal event saw the best multi-discipline stars tackle a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and marathon run on Sunday.
But some high-profile names, such as Australia's Matt Burton, were forced to drop out of the race after suffering an "anaphylactic reaction" to jellyfish stings in Kona.
Dutch competitor Menno Koolhaas spoke about being attacked in the water after he recovered to finish fifth.
He said: "My heart was pumping like crazy and I thought I'm maybe gonna die or something.
"It started really bad – I got stung by a jellyfish and it was really, really painful.
"But Ironman is also a sport of being mentally strong and I had to be that and make the best of it.
"I think this was one of my best performances, but also mentally, which I'm really proud of. A first time Hawaii rookie and coming top five, I couldn't dream of more."
Meanwhile, Britain's Billy Monger made history by breaking the Ironman record for a double amputee by more than two hours.
The former racing driver, 25, finished in 14 hours, 23 minutes and 56 seconds.
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He told : "The mental strength required to do an event of such duration I think that, at times, was close to breaking me.
"In the swim I got stung by a jellyfish in the first 100 metres. That set the tone for the pain that was going to come my way.
"Then towards the end of the swim I got stung by an even bigger jellyfish. I was lucky because some people who get stung it can rule you out the race entirely."
Monger had both legs amputated in 2017 after a serious car crash, but is now targeting the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
He added: "Funnily enough, having spent a year of my life training for triathlon and the Kona Ironman, my trainers Mark and Will, they've been slowly drip feeding me a little bit of a hint here and there about LA in 2028.
"It's definitely something they've been just easing me into the thought process of, that that Paralympic Games is four years away but it could be a possibility.
"I've loved the process of training for Kona and I've learnt a lot through this whole experience so I would definitely never say never."
Meanwhile, Aussie Burton has confirmed since withdrawing from the world championships that he is OK despite jellyfish stings carrying the threat of being fatal.
He said: "I'm healthy now. I'm fine. You always hope that luck will be on your side, but sometimes it's completely out of your control."
On the stings, he said: "I suffered pretty poorly through the swim and actually as soon as I dove in, probably within 10 or 20 strokes.
"I guess I just hoped that it would subside a little bit. Like you get stung by stingers at home [but] I actually went through a bit more pain than I'd experienced before.
"And then I got on the bike and it actually just kept getting worse.
"Medical were great here, just making sure I was okay – my blood pressure was through the roof."
