DEVELOPED WITH PARTICIPANT
SAM HOLNESS
My autism is my superpower. It makes me hyper-focused and determined. I never give up.
SAM HOLNESS
It's early morning in south London and Sam Holness is already in the pool, swimming the same length he has swum thousands of times before. Later there will be a bike session, then a run. Tomorrow will look almost the same. This is his job now: he trains, he eats, he sleeps, he trains again. His goal is a professional racing license, and with it, the title of the first openly autistic professional triathlete in the world.
Sam was diagnosed with autism at around three. He wasn't speaking, he could read, he could type, he could point at what he wanted, but words wouldn't come out. The family learned to watch him closely and figure out, piece by piece, what he was trying to say. They told Marilyn and her husband Tony to expect serious, lasting problems with speech, reading, and social life.
Sam was diagnosed with autism at around three. He wasn't speaking, he could read, he could type, he could point at what he wanted, but words wouldn't come out. The family learned to watch him closely and figure out, piece by piece, what he was trying to say. They told Marilyn and her husband Tony to expect serious, lasting problems with speech, reading, and social life.
He learned to swim before he learned to speak. Water was the first thing that seemed to make sense to him. Speech came later, around age six, slowly and on its own schedule.
Learning to ride a bike went the same way, only backwards. Tony tried to teach him at five and it just didn't happen - Sam couldn't get the balance. Nine years later, at fourteen, he got on a bike and rode off, as if he'd been doing it all along. Tony says that was the moment he understood: some things in his son's development couldn't be rushed. You could only build the conditions and wait.
Touch was hard for Sam as a child. He avoided it and didn't like being touched by others. When he started judo, he spent the first month just watching from the side, not joining in. Nobody pushed him. Eventually the structure of the belts - clear steps, visible progress - pulled him in, and he kept going long enough to earn a brown belt.
He doesn't like it when different foods touch each other on his plate.
He doesn't like it when different foods touch each other on his plate.
New places and bad weather can be genuinely difficult for him in ways that aren't obvious from the outside. And he has always preferred solo sports to team ones - a triathlon doesn't ask you to read a teammate's face in real time.
Training itself seems to help. Before he took up serious sport, Sam dealt with anxiety that made it hard to sleep. Once the training became regular, so did his sleep. There's a practical side to this too: Tony has noticed that Sam doesn't always register his own fatigue the way other athletes do, so they lean on numbers instead - heart rate, pace, power output, distance. Data fills in for a signal that doesn't always arrive on its own.
Training itself seems to help. Before he took up serious sport, Sam dealt with anxiety that made it hard to sleep. Once the training became regular, so did his sleep. There's a practical side to this too: Tony has noticed that Sam doesn't always register his own fatigue the way other athletes do, so they lean on numbers instead - heart rate, pace, power output, distance. Data fills in for a signal that doesn't always arrive on its own.
Tony left a career in banking and corporate finance to coach Sam full-time, after they'd worked with other coaches who talked too fast and asked too many questions at once. He builds sessions around short, clear steps and numbers Sam can check against himself. He describes his relationship with his son as something between a coach, a father, and a friend, and he's honest that the two roles pull in different directions - the coach wants a result, the father just wants him back safely.
Humans of HOKA: Sam Holness | The Trailblazer
Marilyn, meanwhile, is a professor of education at the University of Roehampton and holds an OBE for her work in teacher training. At races, she manages Sam's food and helps keep him calm before the start. Her role in his career has never really stopped.
By eighteen Sam was running with a local club and racing 10K. In 2016 he finished a sports science degree at St Mary's University, with a dissertation on getting autistic young people into sport - a fairly direct answer to anyone who once doubted he'd get through school at all. His first duathlon and first sprint triathlon followed that same year. A first Ironman 70.3, in Portugal, came in 2019, and that was when he decided he wanted to be a triathlete at the top level, not just a participant.
The results since then have piled up quickly.
The results since then have piled up quickly.
The Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Utah in 2021. A first full-distance Ironman in Frankfurt in 2022, finished in 12:29:46.
Then, that October, the Ironman World Championship in Kona - 13 hours, 5 minutes, 44 seconds - which made him, according to Guinness World Records, the first openly autistic person to complete the race.
Then, that October, the Ironman World Championship in Kona - 13 hours, 5 minutes, 44 seconds - which made him, according to Guinness World Records, the first openly autistic person to complete the race.
A sub-three-hour London Marathon in 2023. A personal best of around 10:11 at Challenge Roth in 2024.
These days he's working on nutrition - he also lives with IBS and gluten intolerance - and on shaving minutes off his technique, still chasing that professional card.
A short documentary about him and Tony, made by Maurten, came out in July 2026.
These days he's working on nutrition - he also lives with IBS and gluten intolerance - and on shaving minutes off his technique, still chasing that professional card.
A short documentary about him and Tony, made by Maurten, came out in July 2026.
Overcoming Adversity with Sport | Tony Holness | TEDxSwansea
Sam has said his autism helps him concentrate for long stretches, and that training gives him structure and a sense of purpose he didn't have before. He talks about learning, through the sport, never to give up. On his kit, in interviews, the same line keeps showing up: autism is my superpower. It's his phrase, and it fits him.
Speaking has become part of the job too. Sam and Tony give talks together - to companies, universities, schools, community groups - with clients that have included KPMG, Lloyds Bank, and Havas. They talk about autism, sport, discipline, and what it takes from a family to support someone through all of it.
Speaking has become part of the job too. Sam and Tony give talks together - to companies, universities, schools, community groups - with clients that have included KPMG, Lloyds Bank, and Havas. They talk about autism, sport, discipline, and what it takes from a family to support someone through all of it.
In an interview with British Triathlon, Sam pointed to two groups he sees as underrepresented in the sport: autistic athletes, and Black athletes. He said he wants to encourage people with disabilities, and people from Black and ethnic minority communities, to give triathlon a try.
Sam is also an ambassador for Ambitious about Autism, a UK charity supporting autistic children and young people.
In 2020, he was included in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100.
Through races, interviews and public talks, he encourages more autistic people to take part in sport.
Sam is also an ambassador for Ambitious about Autism, a UK charity supporting autistic children and young people.
In 2020, he was included in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100.
Through races, interviews and public talks, he encourages more autistic people to take part in sport.
