Jan Frodeno signs with Hoka One One
Oversized shoe brand bag the German Ironman World champ for three seasons
Hoka One One have announced the signing of triple Ironman World Champion Jan Frodeno on a multi-year deal that will see the German triathlon superstar wear the brand’s footwear for the next three race seasons.
The German – who won the 2008 Olympic Games and sealed his third Kona title in 2019 – will put his Hoka shoes into action for the next three seasons. The move follows a concerted testing of the France-hailing, California-based footwear brand’s range.
Frodeno, 38, will predominantly opt for Hoka’s Carbon X racing shoes when it comes to competing, while using the Clifton and more heavily-cushioned models for training sessions.
“I want to be at the very top of the game for another three years and, with the support of Hoka, I believe I have the shoes on my feet to do just that,” said the Girona-based Frodeno. “I am heavily invested in high performance – a passion and dedication that’s clearly also shared by the Hoka brand.”
Hoka have claimed the top spot of the Kona Shoe Count, which collates the most popular trainers at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, in 2017 and 2018 (a shoe count didn’t take place in 2019 but Hoka’s Carbon X and Nike’s VaporFly both featured heavily), with top American triathlete Tim O’Donnell wearing them to second place in 2019 and Aussie Sarah Crowley to a third-placed finish. Brit athlete Joe Skipper and Frodeno’s fellow three-time Kona winner, Mirinda Carfrae, are also Hoka athletes.
Yet Frodeno’s move from Asics – who he has raced in since 2003 and broken Iron-distance world records, the Kona course record and recorded Ironman 70.3 world titles while wearing – is a major result for the brand, and displays Frodeno’s continued quest for further triathlon performance gains some 20 years after the start of his triathlon career. “Life is short,” says Frodeno. “The thing you should fear is regretting not trying at the end of it.”
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
