Frodeno returned to the Olympics in 2012 to compete in the men's triathlon event where he would finish 6th. The next year, in 2013, he retired from the shorter standard and sprint triathlon after winning a gold medal as part of the German team in the mixed relay triathlon world championships in Hamburg. He subsequently switched to longer distance endurance triathlons, finishing second at the 2013 Ironman 70.3 European Championships in Wiesbaden and scoring his first Ironman 70.3 win at the 2014 Asia-Pacific Championship in Auckland. In 2008 he said the long distance triathlons is for usually for someone who failed to thrive on the short distance. He finished third on his full-length Ironman debut at the Ironman European Championship and also finished third at the 2014 Ironman World Championship on his World Championship debut.