Daniela Ryf is crowned victor of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii ©Getty Images
Daniela Ryf of Switzerland won the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii despite being stung by a jellyfish before the event began.

Defending champion Ryf was stung in the armpit just before the women's race in Kona.

She considered pulling out but decided to compete, winning the race in a course record of 8 hours 26mins and 16secs, beating the previous record by 20 minutes. 

"I didn't know if I could make it through the swim in such pain - it was horrible," she said.

"I thought, 'I can't give up,' because I'm the defending champion, and I knew little kids would be watching the race.

"But I told myself that I couldn't give up because you never know what can happen out here."

Lucy Charles of Britain took silver with a time of 8:36.32, followed by Anne Haug of Germany who finished in 8:41.57.

Daniela Ryf of Switzerland celebrates winning the Ironman World Championship, setting a course record despite being stung by a jellyfish just before the event began ©Getty Images
Daniela Ryf of Switzerland celebrates winning the Ironman World Championship, setting a course record despite being stung by a jellyfish just before the event began ©Getty Images

In the men's event, defending champion Patrick Lange of Germany set another course record to win before proposing to his girlfriend on the finish line. 

Lange broke the eight-hour mark for the course for the first time, winning in 7:52.39.

Bart Aernouts of Belgium came second in 7:56.41 and Britain's David McNamee finished third with a time of 8:00.09.

"This was the most intense, most beautiful, most amazing thing that I've ever experienced in my life after just asking Julia to marry me," Lange said.

The iconic endurance event consists of a 3.8km swim, a 180km cycle section and a 42.2km run.