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 an earned a bachelor's degree in sports (Idræt og Sundhed, 2005) and after having moved to Farum she studied for a master's degree in Physical Education and Nutrition(Cand. Scient. i Human Ernæring, 2008) at the University of Copenhagen.[1]
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(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 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.
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.[2]
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.[2]
Results list
Date
Competition
Place
Rank
2006-07-15
Premium European Cup
Holten
10
2006-08-20
European Cup
Geneva
9
2006-09-10
World Cup
Hamburg
57
2006-09-17
Premium European Cup
Kedzierzyn Kozle
DNF
2007-05-06
World Cup
Lisbon
DNF
2007-05-20
Premium European Cup
Sanremo
8
2007-06-30
European Championships
Copenhagen
DNF
2007-07-07
Premium European Cup
Holten
12
2007-07-22
World Cup
Kitzbühel
38
2007-08-05
European Cup
Egirdir
3
2007-08-11
World Cup
Tiszaújváros
31
2007-09-01
World Championships
Hamburg
52
2007-09-09
Premium European Cup
Kedzierzyn Kozle
13
2008-07-13
World Cup
Tiszaújváros
5
2008-07-27
Premium European Cup
Poznan
1
2008-08-10
European Cup
Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary)
1
2008-08-30
European Cup
Split
1
2008-09-13
European Cup
Vienna
4
2009-04-05
European Cup
Quarteira
3
2009-05-02
World Championship Series
Tongyeong
21
2009-06-14
European and American Cup · Ibero-American Championships
Ferrol
1
2009-07-05
European Championships
Holten
9
2009-07-12
World Championship Series
Kitzbühel
DNF
2009-08-09
World Cup
Tiszaújváros
9
2009-08-15
World Championship Series
London
DNF
2009-09-26
European Cup
Mar Menor
1
2009-10-25
Premium European Cup
Alanya
2
2009-11-08
World Cup
Huatulco
2
2009-11-21
Premium European Cup
Eilat
2
2010-05-08
World Championship Series
Seoul
17
2010-06-05
World Championship Series
Madrid
DNF
2010-07-03
European Championships
Athlone
22
2010-07-10
World Cup
Holten
15
2010-08-08
World Cup
Tiszaújváros
7
2010-08-14
World Championship Series
Kitzbuhel
DNF
2010-09-08
World Championship Series
Budapest
DNF
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.[3]
^On her blog Helle Frederiksen mentions her boyfriend Ben but does not give his surname. Cf. http://hellefrederiksen.blogspot.com. Retrieved 3 December 2010.