Helle Frederiksen (born 5 March 1981 in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

) is a Danish professional triathlete. She represented Denmark in

triathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics The triathlon events at the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom, with the women's triathlon held on 4 August and the men's on 7 August. 110 triathletes from 39 countries competed with 55 men and 55 women c ...

, placing 27th, and raced on

International Triathlon Union World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other nonstandard variations. World Triathlon hosts the top l ...

race circuit. She is the winner of the 2018 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships as well as the 2014

Hy-Vee Triathlon The Hy-Vee Triathlon (now known as the Des Moines Triathlon) was an Olympic-distance triathlon race held in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. From 2011–2014, the race served as the World Triathlon Corporation's 5150 Series U.S. Championships. Previously, i ...

and 2014 Challenge Bahrain.

Career

Frederiksen was a swimmer from the age of 12 to 18 and a member of the national Danish swimming squad. She had won several Danish championships when, in 1999, she decided to retire from elite sports. Frederiksen studied at

Syddansk Universitet The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

an earned a bachelor's degree in sports ''(Idræt og Sundhed,'' 2005) and after having moved to

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,312 (1 January 2022).

she studied for a master's degree in Physical Education and

Nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...

''(Cand. Scient. i Human Ernæring,'' 2008) at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. Having worked as a spinning trainer for five years, she missed her former life as an elite sportswoman and in 2004 she took part in, and won, a women's

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

''(Piger med Power)'' in Odense, and in 2005, at the Danish Championships, she placed second in the Sprint and third in the Olympic Distance. In 2006, an intensive training period on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

in Australia was worth the effort, and Frederiksen won the Danish Championships at the Olympic Distance. For 4 consecutive years, from 2006 to 2009, she was the Danish Triathlon Champion. In 2010, however, due to a flat tyre in the bike stage, she could not finish the National Championships in

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a southern Danish city, seat of the Guldborgsund ''kommune''. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The city lies on Falster, connected by the Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (''Guld ...

. In 2010, Frederiksen suffered a mixture of misfortunes. Since her bicycle crash at the World Championship Series event in Madrid, she suffered from a hip and back injury and later a spinal disc prolapse dating back to 2007 started to cause pains again. On the other hand, Helle Frederiksen was awarded an ''Olympic Scholarship for Athletes London 2012'' and competed at the 2012 Olympic Games, finishing in 27th place.See http://archive.triathlon.org/zpg/zresults-ath-dtl.php?id=NDc4MA

. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

ITU competitions

In the five years from 2006 to 2010, Helle Frederiksen took part in 36 ITU competitions and achieved 18 top ten positions, among which 10 medals. DNS = ''did not start'' · DNF = ''did not finish''

Personal life

Helle Frederiksen and the Welsh triathlete Ben Powell, former member of the Swansea High Performance Squad and son of the former Welsh Ironman record holder Martin Powell, are a couple. Ben Powell works at the triathlon high performance centre Club LaSanta in Lanzarote where Helle Frederiksen spends her training period.On her blog Helle Frederiksen mentions her boyfriend Ben but does not give his surname. Cf. http://hellefrederiksen.blogspot.com. Retrieved 3 December 2010.

References

External links

Frederiksen's ITU profile page

Frederiksen's Homepage

Frederiksen's Tracktime Homepage
in Danish
Danish Triathlon federation (Danske Triathlon Forbund)
in Danish {{DEFAULTSORT:Frederiksen, Helle Danish female triathletes 1981 births Living people Triathletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic triathletes of Denmark Sportspeople from Odense 20th-century Danish women 21st-century Danish women