The 18-year-old broke the 39-year-old Bavarian indoor record, was delighted with DM silver and was Europe's number one among the U 20 runners.
Leipzig / Hörlkofen– Mona Mayer was on the way to bronze and was then overtaken in the last few meters. The Hörlkofener would not be a competitive athlete if she hadn't been a little afraid of it. The emphasis is on "a little". Finally, the 18-year-old put on a German championship at the weekend that she hadn't expected even in the wildest dreams. It broke an almost 40-year-old Bavarian record over 400 meters. She is now Europe's number one on the U 20 runners' list on this route. And she won her first DM medal for women.
The almost perfect weekend for the German youth champion started with the 400 meter run, when she finished the best time of the competition with 53.35 seconds. In doing so, she broke the Bavarian hall record, which 39 years ago, with the Althamer Rita Daimer (now Gabler), also set an athlete from the Erding district. And no U 20 athlete in Germany has reached such a time in the past 20 years.
"My goal was to get under 54 seconds," said Mayer. “I knew that a 53.9 would be possible if I got a perfect run. But I did not expect such a strong time. ”It was certainly also an advantage that Laura Müller was a DM favorite in her run. “It pushed me a lot,” analyzes the Hörlkofener, whose best time in the hall was 54.3 seconds - one second more.
And then the finale. Despite the best lead time, Mona Mayer was clear: in this women's competition she is only an outsider. By the end, she had already achieved her goal.
Mayer started on the outside track. "You don't have any for orientation," she says. In addition - as in a steep curve - it goes uphill.
Mayer quickly felt the breath of the competition. “After 150 meters, Hannah Mergenthaler ran into me. Corinna (Schwab, the editor) and Laura also put pressure on them. “Then things went downhill for Hörlkofen. "I ran in pretty well and was third."
"I died discreetly on the home straight"
It went into the second and last round. When Schwab started the turbo, "I thought: Now I'm risking everything," says Mayer. She tried to hang on the back. "But I quickly realized that nothing was going to work anymore." She had the lead in her legs.
"I died discreetly on the home stretch, at that moment you don't think about anything anymore." Schwab and Müller were gone, and Mergenthaler passed Mayer in the last ten meters. "It was a surprise effect. You can’t catch that anymore, ”says Mayer, adding. “In any case, Hannah was better compared to the preliminary work. I don't have to be ashamed of that. Corinna and Laura were even under 53 seconds - that's just another class. ”
Of course there is a slight disappointment when a tenth of a second to bronze is missing, Mayer admits, "but I'm happy about the time". The high school student had set a sensational pace again with 53.50 sec. "And the rest will come in the next few years," she says, referring to the medals.
Whereby: She already won her first medal for women on Sunday. With the relay of LG Telis Regensburg she won the silver medal over 4 x 200 meters.
It was the final feat. After the second 400-meter run, she had "very severe pain in her legs," says Mayer. “But the 200 meters are only half. It's fun to go full throttle again. And in a season, the joy about it is even greater.
She had reason to be a little annoyed with the opponents. The "chaos in the changing room", as Mayer called it, may still be common in a season. But then the runner of LG Wattenscheid ran from the right into the middle. “In my opinion, she cut me. I had to be careful not to get inside. That would have meant disqualification for us, ”said Mayer, who therefore“ gave in, even though I was actually faster ”. And it didn't get better. The opponent claimed the inside. "I had to slow down again so that I could get outside." The problem with this: "After that, you need a good 50 meters to get back to full speed." On the last meters, however, Mayer overtook the Wattenscheiderin and handed it over as third baton. Kathi Fehm defended this position. And after the Mannheim relay had been disqualified because a runner had left her track, bronze even became silver.
“My first medal in the women's field, at the age of 18. It's really cool. And already something else than in youth. ”Speaking of youth: the student is now on vacation. "First of all, there is no training," says the Hörlkofener, who will probably soon meet Rita Gabler for a chat. That her Bavarian record of eternity has now been broken, "I'm really happy for Mona," said Gabler. "When the youth are successful in athletics. I always think it's nice. "