Sport and mental health: an EM Normandie student takes part in the IRONMAN World Championships

Eloïse Combe, a 1st year Masters student at EM Normandie's Le Havre campus, will be taking part in the IRONMAN World Championships to be held in Kona, Hawaii, on 11 October 2025. She is committed to highlighting women in sports and encouraging students to get involved.

Eloïse is getting ready to compete in the IRONMAN World Championship, an emblematic event in long-distance triathlon that brings together the very best triathletes from around the world every year in Hawaii. Great physical ability and unshakeable mental strength are required to overcome this extreme race format: a 3.8 km swim, a 180 km bike ride with 1,772 metres of positive elevation gain and a 42.195 km run with 307 metres of positive elevation gain.

Former swimmer and triathlete since 2022, Eloïse, 26, has been training intensively for months to achieve this great sporting achievement. Her qualification follows her performance in the IRONMAN in Les Sables-d'Olonne, which she completed in 10:48 on 22 June. To take up this new challenge, the student, who has just completed a Bachelor's degree in International Management at EM Normandie (Paris-Clichy campus) before pursuing a Master's degree in Le Havre, has to combine her studies with a demanding training programme. She also wants to give this qualification a wider scope, by promoting women's sport and student sports as a lever for mental health, self-confidence and sustainable performance:

Ten years ago, I fell into anorexia. I weighed 20 kilos less and spent three long years in hospital, locked in a long struggle. A few years later, I found myself obese... I've been to both extremes. Plunged into the hell of eating disorders, I went through years of pain, shame and isolation. It was sport that gave me my bearings again. It taught me to pick myself up, to fight, and to rebuild.

I discovered triathlon in 2022. Very quickly, the sport became a passion, and then a driving force. I'd always dreamed of taking part in an IRONMAN. That dream became a goal, then a life project. Today, beyond the performance, I want to give meaning to this adventure. I want to run a project that embodies the values that saved me: pushing beyond yourself, resilience and perseverance.

IRONMAN Kona in figures

• + Over 2,000 qualified women athletes
• + over 100 countries represented
• + more than 5,000 accompanying persons
• + More than 50,000 spectators on site, and millions of views around the world

 

Eloïse is looking for sponsors to support her project, which will involve a considerable financial outlay, and has set up an online fund for those who want to help.