David Plese

David Plese was a former Slovenian National Champion over the Olympic distance before he turned his attentions to the IRONMAN circuit in 2013. He now represents the Bahrain Endurance 13 team and lives in Manama.

David’s first Olympic-distance triathlon consisted of him just about completing the swim, completing the bike stage on a mountain bike (rather than a road bike) and having his pedal fall off. Somehow, he still completed.

Turning professional in 2011, David spent the early years of his career competing over the Sprint and Olympic distances with the ambition of being an Olympian.

Despite swimming to a good standard, David believes it was that discipline that “just didn’t work” over the shorter-distance triathlons. His Olympic dream subsided, replaced by a will to succeed over longer distances.

David was victorious at IRONMAN Barcelona in 2015 and has continued to showcase elite talent over the full distance. Further podium finishes followed in Switzerland (2018), Texas (2019) and Austria (2019).

His favourite race is the World Championship in Kona, an event he has qualified for on multiple occasions, and where one day he would love to stand on the top of the podium.

David so easily could have taken a different career path, he is also a law-school graduate, but the 2004 Olympics in Athens piqued his interest in the sport and a career as a professional triathlete was the result.

Away from the course, Plese has a keen interest in other sports and follows motorcycling, basketball, tennis and skiing to name but a few. The one thing he can’t live without meanwhile is his sleep.

The best advice David has received in his career to date includes eating and drinking more when competing in a race and he takes a “consistent approach” to training.