2020 was not an easy year for both summer and winter sports enthusiasts.
Carla Hahn experienced both sides very intensively.
Because the 15-year-old from Sindelsdorf starts for the young ski team and is successful in mountain biking.
Sindelsdorf - The past year was not easy for both summer and winter sports enthusiasts. Carla Hahn experienced both sides very intensively. The 15-year-old from Sindelsdorf started on the one hand for the junior high school team of the U16 in alpine skiing, on the other hand she is successful in mountain biking. In 2020 she became the Bavarian champion on the bike, at the German championships she won the runner-up title.
Last spring, winter sports enthusiasts were happy that Corona had only caught them at the end of their season.
They regretted the summer athletes who faced a time when there were many question marks.
Now the tide has turned: in the past few months, winter sports enthusiasts have been hit hard, while summer sports enthusiasts are hoping for a more relaxed summer.
Carla Hahn experienced all these emotional fluctuations with ups and downs firsthand.
She's not sure which season was the easier one now.
“The cycling training last summer was actually quite okay,” said the 15-year-old.
"You travel alone a lot anyway and you can organize your training more flexibly than when skiing."
Training in Corona times "pretty tedious"
She also found the races to be relatively normal. And that is what they were compared to today. Of course there were hygiene concepts in the summer of 2020, but the winners were still honored without a mask, at the finish line photos were taken with the competitors arm in arm. In winter it got a lot more complicated. The home training took place almost exclusively on the Gudiberg in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and only for selected athletes and under strict conditions. "That was pretty tedious and also pretty one-sided," reports Hahn. "And I really missed the variety on the flatter training slopes."
In addition, Hahn and her teammates could not contest an official competition for the whole season.
Events of this kind were not allowed;
too complex the organization.
There were mainly internal comparisons within their own region or with neighboring regions.
The women in the U16 age group in the school district where Hahn drove also had eight comparative training sessions with athletes from all over Germany.
Finally, the older class of 2005 is about to switch to the youth squad.
Carla Hahn rides a mountain bike for TSV Benediktbeuern-Bichl
For this, sightings are now planned until the summer. Hahn was not nominated for this despite good performance in winter. She is a little disappointed about that, as she admits. On the other hand, you are currently spared the double burden of ski and bike training. Because the cycling season is already in the starting blocks despite the first race cancellations. "And somehow my heart is almost a bit more attached to it," says the Sindelsdorf resident in the service of TSV Benediktbeuern-Bichl.
In cycling, too, 2021 is a year of transition for the 15-year-old - from the U17 to the U19. In the latter age group, the big races are then held worldwide. This is why Hahn now also likes to focus on mountain biking and school. The lessons are currently still taking place in the distance learning process, from which Hahn can draw positive conclusions. “I have so much more time for training, especially for cycling.” More flexible time management, lessons without going to school at home or maybe even on the go on the laptop - this is an absolute advantage for the young athlete from Sindelsdorf. "Still, I would be happy if I could go to school normally again," she admits.
Until then, the experience of the past twelve months will be continued. And there will probably be many more to come. Currently, for example, father Markus is looking for a way of how he and his daughter can cross the border to participate in international competitions without having to go into quarantine afterwards. "I hope we can do that soon," said Carla Hahn. Because on May 1st there would be a competition in Switzerland that she would like to be part of. After all, she already has several European championship titles on her account, which she would like to top up with further international successes.
Text: Kathrin Ebenhoch