Judge helps guide a young athlete to a world record

U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza, right, helped train Chris Nikic, who set a Guinness World Record when he became the first person with Down syndrome to complete an ironman triathlon.

The most thrilling victory in U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza’s ironman triathlon career doesn’t belong to him, at least not technically.

It belongs to an astonishing newcomer in one of the world’s most grueling sports — Chris Nikic, a 21-year-old Maitland man and friend who Judge Mendoza spent the last year helping to train.