Mona Mayer is one of Germany's running elite.
She doesn't travel to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but she definitely wants to be in Paris in three years' time.
Hörlkofen - Actually, Mona Mayer should already be on her way to Tokyo.
After all, the German Athletics Association takes the eight strongest runners to the Olympics for the 4 x 400 meter relay.
"Unfortunately, the association decided on a more experienced runner," says the Hörlkofenerin, who had the eighth fastest time at the time of the nomination.
"It's a shame." But then her face shines: "On the other hand, I would not have lived through those days in Estonia."
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Kraxelduell: Mona Mayer and her two years older brother.
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The U23 European Championship in Tallinn was no consolation for Mona Mayer.
It was the sports week of her life.
At least so far.
Because in three years the next Olympic Games will take place.
“In Paris, then I want to be there.” What speaks for it?
The determination with which she says this.
And their performance, which "exploded" last weekend, as reported in the trade press.
Mona Mayer has never been at a slow pace before.
“I was an outside kid,” she says.
Not a tree that little Mona does not climb.
When climbing competitions with her brother Tobias, who is two years older, she also climbs parts that are not intended for it.
“Some adults have looked confused.
My mother looked away according to the motto: These are not my children, ”says the 19-year-old with a laugh.
Football, judo and climbing
Which brings us to Ruth Mayer.
Even a 400-meter runner and 1987 Vice European Champion with the German relay, she is the sponsor and companion.
Which is not to say that she puts her child on the track with the ambition of an over-motivated skating mom.
On the contrary: “I was allowed to try everything.
I played soccer and did judo.
Then there is climbing, which I still like to do in the mountains today, ”says Mona Mayer.
“But I noticed early on that I enjoy running the most.
I've always been fast. "
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Coach duo: Reinhard Köchl and Ruth Mayer led the Hörlkofener running talent to the top of Germany.
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She gained her first experience in athletics at TSV Erding.
“All around was really great.
I even enjoyed throwing the ball, even if I was really bad there. "
It shouldn't be her problem much longer.
At the age of 14, Mona Mayer switched to LG Sempt.
The club registers them for the German championships in Bremen.
She starts over 300 meters and wins.
"I thought to myself: cool, could be fun."
Mayer's disciplines are first of all the 400 and 800 meters.
That is decided by mother Ruth and Reinhard Köchl, her second mentor.
“It was also logical because I wasn't that good at the sprint at the time, but I was very persistent,” explains the student.
“They say yes: you can work out perseverance.
Sprint is talent. ”She has long known that the latter is only halfway true.
“Sprint is also a lot of technology that you are always working on.
Arm-leg coordination, stable hips - all of this is only possible with a thousand repetitions.
She comes to around 25 hours of training per week.
First European Championship, and right in the final
Isn't that annoying?
Especially since the announcements also come from your own mother?
“No, it is simply necessary,” replies Mona Mayer.
“Professionally, my mother is perfect anyway.
She has a lot of experience, but is also constantly educating herself. ”She trusts her trainer, even if she is not happy about every 600-meter speed run or 45-minute endurance run.
“What is really annoying now and then is when my mum reveals the mother role too much.
Sayings like: 'Do you have your spikes with you?'
As if I had ever forgotten her.
Or: 'Put something on it, it's cold.'
So mother-stuff. ”Mona Mayer laughs again.
Little things.
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Technology is everything: Mona Mayer trains the processes a thousand times.
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The sporting collaboration immediately bears fruit.
At the age of 15 Mona Mayer was fourth in the U 18-DM and sixth in the 400 meters.
At 16, she ran the stadium lap under 54 seconds for the first time.
53.99 seconds mean the ticket for the U18 European Championship in Györ, Hungary.
where she finished seventh in the final.
At the German championships she wins silver in the 200 and 400 meters.
At the indoor championship one year later, the competition ran into the ground.
400 meters in the hall means two laps, i.e. four corners.
And Mona Mayer loves that. “In the corner you feel the speed even more,” she says.
Nothing seems to be able to stop them.
In 2019 she was preparing for the U20 European Championship in Boras (Sweden) when she tore a muscle fiber during a test run with the national relay in Mannheim.
But Mayer fights back quickly, passes a performance test set by the DLV.
The dream of the EM will still come true.
Everything is going well in advance.
54.32 seconds and - more importantly - completely painless.
Best chances for the finals.
But then in the last preparatory sprint before the semifinals, this pain in the thigh.
The Hörlkoferin bites her teeth, holds out 200 meters, “but then the pain was unbearable.
I stopped and could have just cried. "
An irritated nerve slowed her down.
From now on she experiences the races in Sweden as a spectator.
A bitter setback.
The trainer and runner take a lot of time to recover and tackle the problem from the ground up.
Four torn muscle fibers
They always do.
"Because of my large muscles, I have a lot of tension on my thighs," explains Mona Mayer.
Four torn muscle fibers are still in her medical bulletin to this day, but she keeps fighting her way back.
Gently, with the assistance of Dr.
Harrer and the physiotherapist at the Olympic base and with iron discipline: “You can't stay on the couch.
You still have to do something, keep the muscle moving.
On the other hand, you mustn't exaggerate.
And that's frustrating when you walk across the meadow and the training group passes you by. "
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But the runner of LG Telis Regensburg perseveres and keeps coming back, and how: In February 2020, she defends her German indoor title over 400 meters.
In the run-up to the adult championship, she breaks the 39-year-old Bavarian U20 indoor record set by Rita Gabler (née Daimer) from Althamerica with 53.35 seconds.
At this time, the high school graduate is looking forward to the U20 World Cup in Kenya.
But then the pandemic destroys that dream.
The leaden Corona time begins.
The Abitur exams are over.
At least the German championships will take place in August 2020.
Without an audience, but still.
Mayer arrives with mixed feelings, has only completed two races, but then it increases to 53.43 seconds and is seventh among the adults.
One month later she wins silver over 200 and 400 meters at the U 20-DM in Heilbronn.
There is no match for Brenda Cataria-Byll (52.94).
At least not in 2020.
That will change in the following year.
At the beginning of June Mona Mayer starts in the adult championship, just missed the final.
"I really wanted to run," she says, "but I haven't been pain-free yet."
The ticket for Tallinn
Three weeks later - at the U 23-DM in Koblenz - all muscle hardening and strains are gone after a Traumel treatment.
“Already during the training it became apparent that my times were improving, almost exploding,” says the student.
And she doesn't exaggerate.
In the run-up, she pulverized her best time (52.79 seconds), which she also undercut in the final (53.21 seconds).
That brings her silver behind Luna Thiel, but before Cataria-Byll, who was still overpowering last year, but much more important: she buys the ticket for Tallinn.
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A strong team: Mona Mayer and (from left): get on really well.
They finished fourth at the European Championships in Tallinn.
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And that brings us to the beginning of the story: the (so far) absolute sports highlight of her life, which she would never swap for a possible participation in Tokyo, as she says.
The European Championships in Hungary and Sweden had already been an experience, "but here with the U23 - that was a completely different number".
The participants are just older, more mature, more relaxed.
“There is no longer any formation of groups.
You are a team.
Everyone talks to everyone, cheers everyone on, ”says Mona Mayer.
She herself feels more fit than ever, mastering the preliminary and semi-finals in 53.32 and 53.27 seconds. "And I knew that I could run it again at any time," she says.
"I've never gone into a finals as relaxed as I did in Tallinn."
She has hole seven, the top favorites are behind her on the four to six. The start: Mona Mayer shoots out of the block. The first 50 meters in full steam, then find the step and with larger, flying, but energy-saving steps through the back straight. 24.3 sec - that's a good second faster than ever before. Now it's into the second corner, a Czech rushes past her inside, but she's not the benchmark anyway. 300 meters: Lada Vondrova and Barbora Malikova make the victory among themselves in the front, but Mayer is promisingly behind. Stay big now, don't buckle. “It's always exhausting at the back, you just have to accept that,” says Mona Mayer. It stays relaxed, and that's because of the atmosphere that spills over the home straight from the stands. “It was so incredibly loud. I had tinnitus in my ear ",she tells later. From the storm of cheers, she filters out the voices of her fellow squadrons and then she is at the finish. Fifth! As a 19-year-old in the U23 final. And the time? "It took forever to display it," she says, meaning "it felt like a minute". 52.25 seconds.
2022 at the European Games?
“Fabulous time!” It later says in the media.
Only 16 hundredths are missing from bronze.
But it doesn't matter.
"I never would have thought that I could run so well under 53 seconds." And how she can run such times.
Two days later, she proves it in the 4 x 400 meter relay.
It's not quite enough for the hoped-for medal, but that's not because of the German final runner.
51.45 seconds are stopped with her.
In view of the flying start, experts add six tenths for a normal 400-meter run.
And that would be the next fabulous time.
Mona Mayer wants to do the math. The fact that it didn't work out with bronze is something she knows - especially since the German season two years ago was three seconds slower and won silver. “I would have been happy for our season,” she says, “because it's a great team”.
The season is over for this year.
The student, who is currently considering switching from chemistry and biochemistry to business mathematics “because the laboratory times cannot be reconciled with the training times”, is already thinking of 2022. “I really want to be at the European Games,” she says.
From her training in the stadium, she can already see how the Olympic Park is preparing for the competitions.
A little further away is Paris.
At least in terms of time and place.
Not in terms of performance.
According to the results from Tallinn, Mona Mayer is already number five among Germany's quarter piles.
Dieter Priglmeir
Two record runners
Rita Gabler knows her way around sports.
The woman from Althamer had the Bavarian indoor record over 400 meters for 39 years, and then came Mona Mayer.
When the two of them visited the editorial office, Gabler was happy for her successor and told her on the way: "And you, Mona, please crack my 52.64".
The then 18-year-old promised: “I'll try.” But she also makes it clear: “I'm down from 53.99 to 53.35 now.
There are no such jumps in performance all the time. ”A year and a half later it ran for 52.25 seconds.
You can find more portraits from our Erdings Top 100 series on our overview page.