Triathlete who survived alligator attack tells harrowing story of his escape: 'I got super lucky'

A triathlete who survived an alligator attack in the Savannah River shared his story with OutKick OutDoors.

Jonathan Bruney took a trip to the Georgia/ South Carolina border for what he thought would be a routine day of training for an upcoming Ironman competition.

"This was a work trip for me as a coach to bring my athletes down to the river on a recon course day, is what we call it," Bruney explained.

BOATER SCARED OFF ALLIGATOR, THEN USED ROPE TO STOP BLEEDING AFTER FLORIDA WOMAN LOST ARM "We all went down to Augusta, we got ready to swim, and this was just going to be a nice, easy zone-two, low-heart-rate day.

Just going through each portion of the course." While he was leading the pack, Bruney felt a bump on his elbow that turned the whole day into a fight for survival.

FLORIDA MAN GIVES AN INCREDIBLE INTERVIEW ABOUT HOW HE FOUGHT OFF AN ALLIGATOR WITH A FISHING POLE "I was breathing and sighting on my left side … and he was on my right.

That’s when my elbow felt the brute of the force." Bruney thought the alligator, which he described to be anywhere between five and six feet, was a log.

"I wasn’t even thinking gator," said Bruney.

"I’m thinking, ‘Okay, big log floating in the river.’ But then I looked to my right.

I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a lot worse than a log.’" Almost immediately, Bruney's fight or flight instincts kicked into overdrive.

FLORIDA WILDLIFE OFFICIALS CONFIRM 13-FOOT GATOR KILLED ORLANDO WOMAN WITH 'DEATH ROLL' ON RIVER "This thing’s big enough to barrel roll and rip the arm off if I don’t get away quickly," he recalls.

His next move may have ultimately saved his life, or at the very least, his arm.

"I did have two moderate punches, but that didn’t do anything… [I] went up the snout and squeezed the eye." Bruney explains that he learned about the eyes being sensitive spots from watching "Shark Week" (who says you can't learn anything from TV shows).

After making it to shore, Bruney wasn't just worried about his own safety, but for the safety of his fellow athletes, too.