{"id":13699,"date":"2022-04-13T15:43:04","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T13:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.220triathlon.com\/?p=97377"},"modified":"2022-04-13T16:02:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T14:02:11","slug":"jan-frodeno-background-career-highlights-quotes","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/rss_feed\/jan-frodeno-background-career-highlights-quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan Frodeno: Background, career highlights, quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Nige Tassell\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 13 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Simply the best? There are plenty that believe Jan Frodeno is the greatest triathlete to have ever trod the Earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Olympic gold, three Ironman world titles and a string of record-breaking performances, it\u2019s quite hard to argue against the suggestion\u2026<\/p>\n

Who is Jan Frodeno?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Born in Germany but raised in South Africa, Jan Frodeno has, over the past 15 years, put himself in serious contention for being named the greatest triathlete of all time. But it wasn\u2019t always that way.<\/p>\n

He was a useful if not dominating competitor on the ITU circuit until the day his life changed in 2008, the day he stunned both spectators and athletes alike by taking the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Just where had that performance come from?<\/p>\n

Since that day in the Chinese capital, Frodeno has steadily grown in stature. A pair of fourth-placed overall finishes in the World Triathlon Series followed, but it was when the German switched up to Ironman and Ironman 70.3 that records started tumbling and titles fell from the sky.<\/p>\n

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Jan Frodeno switches between bars and extensions on the bike leg of the 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Austria (Credit: Simon Hofmann\/Getty Images for Ironman)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In 2015, he won the first of three Ironman world titles<\/a><\/strong> to sit alongside the world 70.3 victory secured earlier in the season<\/a><\/strong>. He secured this hat-trick of Kona crowns in 2019 in a performance that set a new course record<\/a><\/strong> in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Another record followed in 2021 when, as part of a specially staged two-man race against the Canadian Lionel Sanders, Frodeno set what was then the fastest full-distance time ever recorded<\/a><\/strong>, dipping below the seven-hour, thirty-minute barrier.<\/p>\n

He might now be on the dark side of 40 but, for now, Jan Frodeno reigns supreme. When it comes to going long, everyone else is still playing catch-up.<\/p>\n

How old is Jan Frodeno?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jan Frodeno was born on 18 August 1981, making him 40 years of age.<\/p>\n

Jan Frodeno\u2019s career highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Frodeno lies on the ground after winning his second Ironman World Championship in 2016 (Credit: Tom Pennington\/Getty Images for Ironman<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

May 2004: World U23 silver puts Frodeno on the right track<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Frodeno takes his first step onto a world championship podium when he takes silver at the U23 worlds at Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira.<\/p>\n

September 2005: Bronze marks his true arrival within the elite corps<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A first top-three placing in the elite ITU World Cup arrives when Frodeno comes third in Beijing. In fewer than three years, a return to the Chinese capital will give the German his career highlight.<\/p>\n

November 2006: Team effort secures world silver<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As part of Germany\u2019s men\u2019s relay squad at the world championships in Cancun, Frodeno and his compatriots capture silver medals.<\/p>\n

August 2008: Triathlon world is shocked as Frodeno grabs Olympic gold<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Frodeno sprints away from Simon Whitfield to claim Olympic gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (Credit: Adam Pretty\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cWho is Jan Frodeno?\u201d asks the front cover of 220<\/em> after the Beijing Olympics. It\u2019s a perfectly justified question. Having never won a single ITU World Cup race, Frodeno outsprints Canada\u2019s Simon Whitfield, Olympic champion eight years earlier, to take a shock victory.<\/p>\n

Third-placed New Zealand\u2019s Sean Docherty, silver medallist in Athens in 2004, is another scalp, as is the pre-race favourite, the Spaniard Javier Gomez, who finishes out of the medals in fourth.<\/p>\n

August 2009: A maiden World Triathlon Series victory<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Frodeno notches his first win in the brand-new ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS), the season-long competition brought in to decide the world champion. He finishes fourth overall in the series, a placing he repeats the following year.<\/p>\n

However, in 2010, it could have been so much more. Only needing to finish fourth or higher in the Grand Final in Budapest to be crowned world champion, injury means he trails home 41st<\/a><\/strong>, handing the title to Gomez.<\/p>\n

January 2014: Frodeno moves on up smoothly and successfully<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After a few more solid if unspectacular seasons in WTS racing, Frodeno switches up in distance. Having not finished at the Ironman 70.3 world championships the previous year, Frodeno wins the first Ironman 70.3 race of the new season \u2013 New Zealand \u2013 before also registering victories in California and St George.<\/p>\n

September 2014: Medals galore as Ironman rep grows and grows<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A silver at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship<\/a><\/strong> is bookended by full-distance bronzes in Germany and Kona.<\/p>\n

October 2015: World-beater at both Ironman distances<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Frodeno celebrates winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Austria in 2015 (Credit: Simon Hofmann\/Getty Images for Ironman)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

A faultless year for Frodeno \u2013 five races, five victories \u2013 culminates in gold in Kona<\/a><\/strong> to add to the 70.3 world crown<\/a><\/strong> earned two months previously in Austria.<\/p>\n

October 2016: Germany dominate as Frodeno makes it two in a row<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Three months on from victory on home turf at Challenge Roth, where he breaks the then iron-distance world record time<\/a><\/strong>, Frodeno successfully defends his Ironman world crown<\/a><\/strong>, with the Kona podium becoming the exclusive preserve of German athletes thanks to Sebastian Kienle\u2019s silver and Patrick Lange\u2019s bronze.<\/p>\n

September 2018: Another middle-distance world crown<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Three years on from his first triumph at the Ironman 70.3 world championships<\/a><\/strong>, Frodeno regains the title<\/a><\/strong>, holding off the challenges of two other ITU racers who\u2019ve moved up distance-wise: Alistair Brownlee<\/a><\/strong> and Javier Gomez<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

October 2019: The delayed third Kona title arrives<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Frodeno screams in delight after taking his third Ironman World Championship in 2019 (Photo by Tom Pennington\/Getty Images for Ironman)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

With injuries having denied him a third Kona crown in both 2017 and 2018, Frodeno finally bags his hat-trick of titles<\/a><\/strong>. Despite now being 38, he posts the fastest marathon of the day, in the process setting a new course record of 7:51:13.<\/p>\n

July 2021: The record-smashing face-off<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Allg\u00e4u, in the foothills of the German Alps, the Zwift Tri Battle Royale pits Frodeno against Canada\u2019s Lionel Sanders<\/a><\/strong> in a two-man shoot-out. But there\u2019s only ever one man in it.<\/p>\n

Sanders might post a personal best on the swim, but Frodeno is already five minutes ahead and ends the race having set a new full-distance world best of 7:27:53<\/a><\/strong>. For the Canadian, it\u2019s an exercise in eating dust.<\/p>\n

Jan Frodeno in quotes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On that shock Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008: \u201cI knew I had trained very well, but these guys who were with me at the front were really the big guys. I just tried to execute my own race. As Simon [Whitfield] went, I knew it was going to be tough. I just had to bite and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his first Ironman title in 2015<\/a><\/strong>: \u201cIt was brutal. No shade at all. If you\u2019re going uphill, your heart rate goes up and it just doesn\u2019t come back down.\u201d<\/p>\n

On retirement: \u201cI can\u2019t do this until I\u2019m 50. It makes it even more clear that every time I do Kona, it could be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Jan Frodeno?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Frodeno run towards victory during the 2019 Ironman World Championship in Kailua Kona, Hawaii (Credit: Tom Pennington\/Getty Images for Ironman)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Frodeno might now be in his forties, but as that record-smashing performance at the Zwift Tri Battle Royale<\/a><\/strong> showed, he\u2019s still at the peak of his powers, yet to be cast into shade by whoever\u2019s going to inherit his mantle.<\/p>\n

Currently tying with Craig Alexander when it comes to world titles won (they\u2019ve won three apiece, so are still well behind six-time champions Dave Scott and Mark Allen), Frodeno would love to make that spot his own.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the pandemic, there are two Ironman world championships in 2022<\/a><\/strong>, two opportunities to cement his formidable reputation even further.<\/p>\n

Top image credit:<\/strong> Joern Pollex\/Getty Images for Ironman<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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