On November 4, American professional cyclist Hannah Otto made history by becoming the first known woman to climb and descend Mount Kilimanjaro on a mountain bike in a single day. But the achievement came at a high cost. Just two miles from the finish line, Otto crashed and broke her leg. Even after hearing her bone snap, she refused to give up. She used her bicycle for support and pedalled with one leg to complete the challenge. But reaching the finish line did not mean her ordeal was over. Once she returned home, Otto learned that her injuries were much more serious than she had first thought.

In an Instagram update shared on November 11, Otto opened up about the accident and the difficult days that followed. Recalling the moment of the crash, she explained that she slipped while riding through the mud and her foot became caught as she fell. “I felt the bone snap,” she wrote. She also remembered crawling through the mud and saying to herself, “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I broke my leg.” Still, Otto did not want the crash to end her attempt.

She managed to get back to her bicycle. She eventually completed the ride in 10 hours, 18 minutes and 51 seconds. Looking back on how she made it to the finish, she credited “prayers and willpower” for getting her through those final moments. After finishing, Otto was taken straight to a hospital in Tanzania, where doctors confirmed through initial X-rays that she had fractured her tibia. They wanted to operate on her injured leg there, but Otto was not comfortable having surgery so far from home and hoped to return to the United States for treatment.

 But getting her ready for the long journey to the U.S. was not easy either. Her team had to find a brace to support her injured leg during the long flight. So her team made a six-hour round trip just to find one. With the brace in place, Otto was finally able to make the journey back to the United States. After reaching home, Otto had a CT scan scheduled for the following day. However, before the scan, she experienced another frightening medical problem.

At around 3 a.m., she woke up with intense pain in her calf. She immediately became concerned about a possible blood clot. She knew that having a fracture and then undertaking a journey lasting around 30 hours could put her at risk. So, she decided to go to the emergency room.  Her concerns were confirmed when doctors found a blood clot. Further examinations also revealed two very unstable tibial plateau fractures, which she described as bilateral condylar fractures, along with an avulsed ACL. 

Otto eventually underwent surgery and later shared some encouraging news with her followers. “Surgery went perfectly, and I’m super optimistic about the doctor’s recovery plan,” she wrote.  Despite everything she had been through, she remained hopeful about her recovery.

Her Kilimanjaro ride was about more than setting a record.  Standing at 5,895 meters, the mountain is the highest in Africa, and Otto covered approximately 42.6 kilometers as she climbed to the summit and made her way back down. The attempt was part of her “Beyond the Summit” project, which aimed to raise $165,000 for World Bicycle Relief and help provide 1,000 bicycles to people in rural communities. The goal was to give more people access to reliable transport, making it easier for them to reach school, work and healthcare. But Otto wanted her challenge to make a difference beyond the cycling world.

Looking back on the experience, Otto joked about just how much the challenge had put her through. “I wanted something that would challenge me and I thought climbing Kilimanjaro in a day would be enough but I guess I needed just a little more,” she wrote on Instagram.  Interestingly, this was not the first time Otto had taken on a demanding endurance challenge.

Hannah Otto’s tough road from young triathlete to record-breaking cyclist

Otto began competing in triathlons at just nine years old and spent the next 11 years developing as an athlete. During that period, she won the XTERRA Amateur World Championship twice before shifting her focus to mountain biking. The move proved successful, as she became a two-time high school state champion and later a five-time collegiate cycling national champion. She also represented the United States at several UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and earned a place on the U.S. Olympic Long Team in 2020. 

One of her biggest victories came in August 2022, when she won the women’s division of the Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado. The race covers 100 miles through the Rocky Mountains, with riders facing long climbs, rough terrain and high-altitude conditions.  But Otto’s toughest tests have not always come in organised races.

She has also taken on some of the most demanding mountain bike routes in the country in attempts to set the fastest known times. In 2022, she completed the Whole Enchilada in Moab, Utah, in 5 hours, 50 minutes, and 38 seconds.  Her attempt on the 137-mile Kokopelli Trail was even more demanding. During her first attempt in 2023, freezing temperatures and difficult conditions pushed her to the edge, and she finished just 15 minutes outside the record after more than 13 hours of riding. Rather than letting that setback end the challenge, Otto returned in 2024 and successfully set a new women’s fastest known time, completing the route in 11 hours and 53 minutes. 

She later added the White Rim Trail in Utah to her record list, completing the 100-mile route in 2025 in 6 hours, 36 minutes, and 51 seconds. That same year, she also won the U.S. Cross-Country Marathon National Championship. Another major challenge came on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, where she rode from the Pacific Ocean to the summit, covering 55 miles and climbing nearly 14,000 feet.  She completed the effort in 5 hours, 43 minutes, and 50 seconds, setting a women’s fastest known time. The climb was particularly demanding because the final section included steep, loose gravel and the route reached an altitude of nearly 14,000 feet. 

These achievements show why Otto was willing to take on Kilimanjaro. From long-distance races to solo record attempts, she has repeatedly chosen challenges that test her physical and mental endurance. This time, however, the mountain gave her a finish she could never have planned for.