Triathlon Business International (TBI) and Interbike have announced the male and female International Triathlete of the Year and the Triathlon Industry Leader of the Year award winners at Interbike’s Awards Celebration at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
The male triathlete of the year is Germany’s Jan Frodeno, female triathlete is USA’s Gwen Jorgensen and Industry Leader is Challenge Family. The athlete nominees were selected by TBI Board members for performance in races between 1 January 2014 and 15 July 2015, while the industry leader award nominees were selected based on their demonstrated leadership and vision in driving the sport of triathlon in 2014 and 2015.
“This year’s TBI awards were given to three deserving choices,” said TBI President Jack Caress. “Gwen is unique in American history and her record in Olympic distance racing is unprecedented. With Jan, since his Olympic victory in Beijing, he has developed as the premier long distance athlete in triathlon.
“And, Challenge Family has developed high profile races while keeping a family atmosphere that athletes have embraced throughout the globe. We could not be more proud of our award winners who exemplify excellence and professionalism at the highest level.”
After retiring from Olympic-distance ITU racing in 2013, Jan Frodeno started a long-distance career, and enjoyed a highly successful 2014, his first full year as a long-distance racer. Among 2014 wins were 70.3 Auckland, 70.3 St George and 70.3 California. Frodeno was also third at IRONMAN Frankfurt, second at IM 70.3 Worlds and third at his first IRONMAN World Championship.
In 2015, he repeated his victory at 70.3 California, won 70.3 Barcelona and the IRONMAN European Championships. And, shortly after the 15 July 2015 award cut-off date, Frodeno became the 2015 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion.
Gwen Jorgensen had a phenomenal 2014 and continues the streak in 2015. She started 2014 with a win at the ITU World Cup in Australia and ended the year with a win at the ITU WTS Grand Final in Canada. Between these wins, she logged five additional wins in ITU WTS races.
She’s currently on a 2015 winning streak with an ITU WTS win at Abu Dhabi to open the season, followed by five additional wins by the 15 July award consideration end-date. On 1 August, she was first at the Rio Test Event and USA Olympic Trials in Brazil.
Challenge Family is a series of international races with many unique features including: athletes being encouraged to cross the line with their family members; events allowing participants to compete as a relay team; inclusion of a festival of other events such as 5K fun runs and parties as part of an event; and instead of flying in its own staff, Challenge Family races pull heavily from local clubs and municipal groups for volunteers and staff.
Challenge Family and Challenge Roth recently joined Triathlon Business International in presenting TBI’s Global Triathlon Conference, which drew triathlon industry leaders to Roth from across Europe.
Awards were presented by Voice of IRONMAN Mike Reilly and 6-time IRONMAN Champion, Dave Scott.
Triathlon Business International is ‘the world’s leading organization dedicated to promoting the sport and business of triathlon.’ Founded by a coalition of industry leaders, TBI’s mission is to leverage the knowledge, talent and resources of the leaders in triathlon to the benefit of the sport.
Its overarching goals are to increase and retain advocates of and participants in triathlon, and to foster a positive image of the sport globally.
TBI’s members can participate in and access: conversations that will impact the development of triathlon around the world; initiatives regarding industry rules and standards; statistical data on sell-in and sell-through of events, products and services of related industries; and legal, legislative monitoring and action on behalf of all industry suppliers.
