Triathlete saves four-year-old from drowning

Claire Duncan December 16, 2016

Mark Maloney dived in to rescue the drowning tot A child who slipped through railings into the fast-flowing waters of the Thames near the Golden Hinde was rescued with seconds to spare by a hero bystander. Mark Maloney, 37, was with colleagues at the The Old Thameside Inn on Bankside, when he was alerted by the mothers screams for help. — Mark Maloney. Credit: The Sentinel

On Tuesday, a British triathlete used his open water swimming skills to rescue a child from drowning in the River Thames in southern England.

Mark Maloney, a 37-year-old triathlete from Newcastle, England, was at a pub with a colleague while on a business trip in London when he overheard the child’s mother screaming for help. He dove into the water “to stop the child being whisked away by the fierce current.”

Maloney, who trains for Ironmans, says it was his rigorous swim training in open water that allowed him to battle the cold and currents in the Thames to rescue the boy.

“I just acted on instinct without really thinking,” he says of the rescue. [The child] managed to tell me his name but was in total shock. It was a really tough current, I did a huge open water swim in Ironman competition in the summer but I was struggling to keep us both afloat.”

Maloney believes the boy slipped through the guard rails when he fell in the river. The child was taken to the hospital after the event but remained conscious and recovered well, according to The Sentinel.