Stories from the German track and field athletes' training camp in Altenerding
Erding – Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch is a high jumper, but in Erding she will not even land on the mat, only in the sand pit.
“Vertical jumps are popular with her at the moment.
It's all about start-up control and speed," explains Christian Weber.
He is department head and athletics trainer at TSV Erding and is absorbing every exercise unit and methodology these days.
The German Athletics Association is holding its pre-camp in the Sepp-Brenninger-Stadion until Monday.
Christian Weber, his wife Kerstin and other helpers from TSV are there all day and help where there is a need.
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One size larger than Kerstin and Evi Weber (right) is discus thrower Shanice Craft.
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For example with the twins Rabea and Debbie Schöneborn, who had a mishap.
The two marathon runners ran 3000 meters yesterday on the blue Altenerdinger Bahnen and also practiced catching the water.
"For cooling, they sewed in a cap so that you can carry ice cubes on it, which then melt," explains Kerstin Weber.
"Unfortunately, one has disappeared," she regrets and asks for help.
"If someone took it with them as a nice memory: Please bring it back - you can't rework every cap like this."
Weber firmly assumes that the cooling cap will come back, "because we only have nice spectators and guests".
Sometimes they are almost too shy.
Like the girl who didn't dare approach Malaika Mihambo at first and then was overjoyed with the selfie.
"Do you want an autograph too?" asked the Olympic champion.
"Unfortunately I don't have anything to write with me," said the young fan - whereupon Mihambo conjured up an autograph card from her sports bag.
The day before she had already entered her signature in the golden book of the city of Erding.
"They're all so incredibly nice here," says Kerstin Weber.
"But of course fully focused on her competition," adds her husband Christian.
The sprinters trained on Friday morning.
For three hours - which Weber explains by saying that after each short run a quarter of an hour of rest is necessary.
"That's why it sometimes looks as if the sprinters are just lying around," says Erdinger with a laugh.
The relay handover was trained intensively - also for the 400-meter runners with Hörlkofenerin Mona Mayer in the team.
At 20 she is the chick of the season, she raves: "So far it's going very well.
The training is great.
And my first impression is also very positive.
We are definitely a good team.”
Some of the performances are also very good, as Christian Weber remarked.
"Samantha Borutta threw a super series," he says of the hammer thrower.
That also applies to the shot putter Simon Bayer.
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Monika Zapalski demonstrates reactive jumping.
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Documented the program of the sprinters with the mobile phone.
“They also warm up with hurdle gymnastics.
I show that to our young people when they moan about it again," says Kerstin Weber.
Or Monika Zapalska with her combination exercise called reactive jumping.
"Get off the box, very short contact with the ground, then over the hurdle" - another method that the youngsters of Erding can be prepared for.
And sometimes the Webers are only in demand as organizers.
Because the sprinters still wanted to run on artificial turf, they simply called Langengeisling.
Germany's fastest are now training tomorrow morning on the FCL artificial turf.
Great sport, distributed throughout the city - that should also please Mayor Max Gotz, the former weightlifter.
And if it had been athletics?
"Then I would have tried the decathlon, because you don't have to be super good anywhere and I actually did pretty well everywhere," he says.
Anton Bönig, the soccer player, would have thrown himself into the sprint distance.
"I find middle-distance interesting, but also pretty tough," he admits.
City priest Martin Garmaier would also be more of a short-distance driver, he admits.
"But actually I'm a swimmer." Maybe they'll come next year.
