As COVID-19 made its way to Minnesota in March of 2020, Ben O’Donnell was the state’s third reported case, and first critical patient. The 38-year-old husband and father spent nearly a month battling for his life in a Minneapolis hospital’s intensive care unit. Unable to breathe without oxygen or walk up a flight of stairs upon his release in April, O’Donnell set a goal for himself to complete an Ironman triathlon seven months later in November.
What transpired was an unpredictable year filled with successes and failures, as the pandemic unfolded across the country and the world. O’Donnell went to extreme measures to keep his family safe, all while continuing to train for a race that seemed like an unattainable stretch of the imagination to those around him, but a goal that became necessary to prove his body had overcome its fight with the coronavirus, and that COVID-19 would not define the rest of his life.
Director Biography
Scott Harves is a television producer for ESPN and has worked for the network since 1997. A director and editor of features and documentaries, his list of accomplishments include five National Sports Emmy awards and an Edward R. Murrow award for journalism.