Jan Frodeno

Jan Frodeno is a German former triathlete, born on 18 August 1981 in Cologne, who won the men's triathlon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and later won the Ironman World Championship three times, in 2015, 2016 and 2019. He started out as a swimmer in South Africa at the age of 15, entered triathlon in 2000 and qualified for the German national team in 2002. His Olympic victory was a surprise: he beat the 2000 Olympic champion Simon Whitfield in a sprint finish. He placed sixth at the 2012 Olympics and in 2013 retired from the shorter distances after winning gold with the German team in the mixed relay world championships in Hamburg. Moving to long distance racing, he also won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2015 and 2018 and set long distance world records at Roth in 2016 with 7 hours 35 minutes 39 seconds and again in 2021.