“Preliminary investigations indicate she drowned during the swimming portion of the event.”
Brazilian fitness influencer Mara Flavia Souza Araujo died during an Ironman event in Texas. Photo / Instagram
The event’s organisers expressed their condolences for her in a statement at the weekend.
“We send our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the athlete and will offer them our support as they go through this very difficult time,” they said.
“Our gratitude goes out to the first responders for their assistance.”
Araujo recently shared an image of her standing on train tracks to her 64,000 Instagram followers, which was captioned, “Enjoy this ride on the bullet train that is life” in Portuguese.
“And even with the speed of the machine blurring the landscape, look out the window – for at any moment, the train will drop you off at the eternal station.”
Since 2018, Araujo had competed in at least nine Ironman events and regularly updated her followers about her training and progress.
The Brazilian influencer would also post pictures of herself DJing, something she described as being one of her “passions”.
“Nothing is by chance, it’s destiny!” she captioned one of her posts where she can be seen behind a set of decks.