TimTim Sharma Shares How She Became India's Fastest Female Triathlete

In a recent episode of The Shaili Chopra Show, triathlete TimTim Sharma joined Shaili Chopra, founder of SheThePeople and Gytree, to talk about her journey of choosing fitness, strength, and joy at a stage of life where women are often told to slow down. This wasn’t a conversation about athletic excellence; it was a silent rebellion against the belief that women must limit their dreams after a certain age.

TimTim now holds a record many wouldn’t expect at 41. At the recent IRONMAN 70.3 Goa 2025, she finished first in her age group, 2nd among all women, and 43rd overall from 851 participants. In a sport that tests every bit of your endurance, she isn’t only showing up, she’s standing out.

Redefining “What Women Should Do”

“A woman needs to… this is feminine, and anything that goes beyond that construct of what has been defined as feminine is always questioned,” TimTim said during her conversation with SheThePeople.

It’s a reality society rarely admits, but every woman knows it. For generations, women have been conditioned to believe fitness is either a luxury, a beauty tool, or a masculine pursuit, never just a happy, empowering part of life.

TimTim’s own journey challenges this mindset at every step. She did the “Indian good girl” checklist, studied abroad, got a corporate job, wore the pencil heels, and earned well. But all of it left her wanting something more.

“I reached a point where I was literally bored to sleep,” she said. Fitness didn’t begin as a career choice for her; it began as a search for happiness.

This makes her story more than just inspirational; it’s relatable. So many women silently carry that same void, thinking it’s normal. TimTim simply chose not to.

Movement as a Way Back to Ourselves

When TimTim describes endurance sport, she doesn’t speak like an athlete chasing medals. She speaks like an artist. “For me, I was getting lost in that repetitive movement, one foot in front of the other. It was meditative. It made me happy,” she said.

The way she spoke about movement felt powerful, not as a punishment to lose weight or a competition to prove something, but as a way to feel alive again.

TimTim talked about how most of us were raised to see fairness as beauty. “Our mothers have told us that skin care means you must be fair… have that fair and lovely cream or tan is not gorgeous,” she said. She laughs when people ask about her tan lines. “I flaunt them, baby. I work really hard for them.”

She made a point that many women will relate to, in India, we’ve grown up believing beauty comes from bottles, fairness creams, filters and anti-ageing serums, not from joy, strength, sweat, friendships or the endorphins that truly make us glow.

Fitness Isn’t a “Type of Woman” Thing

The stereotype that fitness is only for athletes or “gym girls” needs to go. Fitness is self-preservation. It is health. It is mental peace. It is agency. And as TimTim says, “It gives you so much… confidence, independence, happiness, a tribe, contentment.”

She makes it clear that fitness has nothing to do with looks or numbers; it’s about choosing yourself.

TimTim Sharma isn’t only breaking records, she’s unlearning and helping others unlearn decades of conditioning. And if more women choose happiness instead of judgment, strength over stereotypes, and movement that feels good, that shift itself could be revolutionary.

Watch the full conversation here:

Views expressed by the author are their own.