At fifty, when most men settled into comfort, Milind Soman went hurtling down a rain-lashed Estonian road chasing another kind of freedom.
It’s oddly poetic,
isn’t it? The boy who once sliced through Indian pools with the precision of a shark ended up conquering one of the planet’s toughest endurance races half a century later. Milind Soman - actor, model, and all-round fitness demigod - turned fifty by finishing the Zurich Ironman Triathlon back in 2015, a race designed to make lesser mortals weep.
Now jump ahead a decade. At fifty-nine, he was back at it again this August, this time amid Estonia’s freezing rain, alongside his wife Ankita Konwar. A 1.9 km swim in icy waters, a 90 km cycling trail through drenched countryside, and a 21 km run on trembling legs. Sounds masochistic? Probably. But to Milind, it was just… joy.
The Making of the Man
Before the glossy magazine covers and Pinkathon banners, there was a little boy struggling to fit in after moving from Glasgow to Mumbai. He was bullied for his accent until he found salvation in swimming pools. That’s where the rhythm began - arm after arm, breath after breath.
Milind Soman of Maharashtra raises his arm after winning the men's 200m breaststroke in the 41st National Aquatic championship in Bombay on December 30, 1984. | Photo Credit: Thomas Rocha / The Hindu Archives
By eighteen, he wore India’s colors at the South Asian Games and reigned as National Champion in the 100m breaststroke for four consecutive years. Anyone meeting him today wouldn’t be surprised. That mental discipline - early mornings, chlorine-stung eyes, the long silences underwater - was practice for everything that came later: modelling, marathons, even Ironman.
The 50th Birthday Gift: Zurich, 2015
Milind Soman in Zurich Celebrating His 50th Birthday
(Business Standard)
You could call it madness or method. To mark his 50th birthday, Milind decided he wouldn’t be cutting cake but calories on the Zurich course. Fifteen hours and nineteen minutes later, he crossed the finish line, having swum 3.8 km, cycled 180 km, and ran a full marathon (42.2 km).
No breaks. No music. Just willpower and weather.
“People kept telling me it was impossible at this age,” he said later in an interview. “So naturally, I had to try.” It’s hard not to smile at that statement - equal parts defiance and humor, like a man shrugging off gravity.
The Estonia Comeback
(@milindrunning/Instagram)
Fast-forward to 2025. Ten years after that Zurich triumph, he returned to the Ironman stage - this time hand in hand with Ankita. “We did it!” he wrote on Instagram, sounding like an excited teenager. And yet, behind that playful tone, there was grit: super-cold water, heavy rain, headwinds that could knock you sideways.
(@garminindia/Instagram)
Milind finished just five seconds before the race cutoff. Five seconds! That tiny breath of time captures the beauty of his story: never late, never early - just right there at the edge of physical possibility.
More Than Muscles
(@milindrunning/Instagram)
People like to call him “India’s fittest man.” But his secret strength isn’t the biceps or the abs (though, sure, those don’t hurt). It's philosophy. He often says endurance sports teach you about life more than fitness. You monitor your heartbeat, your fatigue, your doubts. “If you’re aware enough, your body tells you everything,” he once told The Indian Express.
He still runs barefoot. Still bikes with his wife. Still joins Pinkathon marathons - not as a celebrity guest but as one of the runners. There’s something beautifully ordinary about that.
Milind Soman and His 86 Year Old Mother
(@milindrunning/Instagram)
At sixty, Milind hasn’t slowed down one bit. He’s now creating platforms for indigenous sports, pushing for recognition of traditional fitness practices across India. Maybe that’s his next finish line - a legacy that’s not about medals but mindsets.
So yes, the Ironman was a celebration, not just of his birthday but of endurance, love, and everything in between. Let’s be honest: few people can make aging look this alive.
As Milind once said, half-laughing after completing yet another mad race, “There’s no such thing as too old - it’s just too lazy.” And somehow, that’s exactly what makes him timeless.
