Olympic triathlete and three-time winner on the Ironman world circuit
We are proud to have in our team of professional athletes DANIEL FONTANA, who chose WEPERE devices to enhance his performance, speed up muscle recovery and reduce the risk of injury.
A naturalised Italian, born in 1975 in General Roca, South-central Argentina, he made his Olympic debut in Athens 2004, where he finished 28th with a total time of 1.57’14″20.
He competed with the Maglia Azzurra at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he improved his time over the Olympic distance.
Long distances are his passion. In 2009, he took silver at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater (Florida, USA) and the following year, he won bronze at the Ironman South Africa event, earning him qualification for the full distance world finals in Kona, where he was forced to retire in the final section of the run.
He continues to successfully participate in various competitions of the Ironman circuit. He won the historic first Italian Ironman 70.3 in 2011 in Pescara and took home gold the following year.
2014 was the year of records for Daniel Fontana: he won the Ironman Los Cabos with a time of 8:05’48”, becoming the first Italian man to win a test of the Ironman world circuit. His performance was epic: he fully controlled the 3.8 km of swimming and the 180 km of cycling, and then dominated the 42.195 km of race, taking the lead from the 10th km and continuing to build up an advantage until the finish line.
“Now I want to enjoy this victory, but then I have to recover quickly and in the best possible way to aim straight for the next goal.”
In August 2015, he underwent surgery on his Achilles tendon and cancelled the season’s competitive appointments to concentrate on his post-surgery rehabilitation: he thus literally came into contact with the electro-medical devices by I-TECH MEDICAL DIVISION (medical brand of I.A.C.E.R. Srl, owned by WEPERE), who support him in muscle recovery and athletic training. Thanks to daily physical and instrumental therapies, less than two months after surgery, Daniel is at full strength with swimming and cycling training and is preparing to return to running.
The 2016 season got off to a great start: it set another record for the triathlon, with the second victory on the Ironman world circuit, the only Italian to succeed in the endeavor. The hat-trick came in 2018 at Ironman Taiwan, when he was almost 43 years old.
In 2019 he is the oldest athlete on the starting line of the Ironman Hawaii World Championship and sets a new record, confirming himself as a true champion of endurance disciplines.
“Correct recovery is crucial, for me as one of the oldest professional athletes, but also for the many athletes who, as they age, have to pay attention not only to post-competition, but also to recovery after training and injury prevention. The goal of continuing to perform and achieve outstanding results is shared by most athletes from their thirties onwards, when tissues begin to physiologically lose elasticity and recovery times start to stretch.”
In recent years, Daniel Fontana has been involved in several projects that focus on the psychophysical wellbeing of athletes and the right preparation to raise the level of performance, athletic and otherwise, with the aim of creating a widespread culture of wellbeing and sport within companies as well.
“Together with WEPERE, we will work on the maximum optimisation of the effectiveness of the products according to the specific needs of athletes, and on the development of all those proposals that meet an ever-increasing demand for sport and well-being.”