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An Olympic gold medalist and three-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon Championship has raised more than BD81,870 (€200,000) for Laureus Sport for Good and Spanish health care workers from within the comforts of his home.
Jan Frodeno, who is a Laureus ambassador, has proven that Covid-19 can’t stop athletes from continuing to help inspire through sport.
Laureus is a global organisation that celebrates sporting excellence and uses the power of sport to transform the lives of children and young people. Their ambassadors support the work of the Laureus World Sports Academy and their foundations around the world by providing their time to support Sport for Good programmes. The academy is made up of a group of sporting legends, each of whom reached the very highest level of achievement and collectively created many of sports most iconic moments.
Frodeno found an imaginative way to complete a sporting challenge amid COVID-19 restrictions and raise thousands of Euros in the process. Whilst in lockdown in Girona, Spain, he managed to complete the Ironman distance at home in a remarkable time of 8hrs 33mins and 39secs. That’s 3.8 km in his counter-current swimming pool, 180 km cycling on his roller trainer and running a 42.2km marathon on his treadmill.
He said: “That was certainly different and great fun. I’m really pleased we were able to make this happen and to raise money for such good and important causes. We’ve been subject to lockdown for almost four weeks now and there is strict monitoring of compliance with these rules, and rightly so.
“The situation here is really dire. That’s why I’ve been training at home. However, when I see what the people here in the hospitals are doing for us, this small sacrifice is one I wholeheartedly make.”
The German triathlete was planning to compete at the Challenge Roth in Bavaria, but it was called off because of the pandemic.
That is when he came up with this concept. At first, he thought it was just a crazy idea and that if he couldn’t race, then he would from his home.
“Then we thought more about how and why we should actually do this,” explained Frodeno. “I just wanted to attract attention in order to raise money. A portion of the donations will help Laureus Sport for Good in building a project to help young people in my home city, Girona. My sponsor, Mercedes-Benz, is a global partner of this charity and I have been involved in it as an ambassador for many years.
“Laureus is a wonderful organisation that supports around 200 programmes around the world which use the power of sport to help young people. A lot of this work has had to stop, or has to take place remotely now because of COVID-19. For these young people, many of them disadvantaged, this is a double disaster.
“The rest of the donations will be given to local healthcare institutions here in Girona. I have so much respect and regard for the doctors, nurses and helpers here who are risking themselves to beat this terrible thing.”
Fans around the world tuned in to a live stream of Frodeno’s #TriatHome Challenge. Throughout the day, he was joined on the stream by a number of the world’s greatest sporting legends including Laureus Academy members Boris Becker, Fabian Cancellara, Mike Horn and Chris Hoy.
For others wishing to support Frodeno’s initiative, the donation page is www.viprize.org/frodeno.
