A veteran and a novice: two archers from TSV Jahn Freising at the 2021 finals in Berlin

Thomas Strasser and Enzio Harpaintner from TSV Jahn Freising convinced at the finals in Berlin.

For Harpaintner it was the very first archery competition.

Freising / Berlin

- At the beginning of June, a curious entry into archery reached its peak for the time being: two shooters friends from TSV Jahn Freising made their way to Berlin to shoot for championship honors at the German Cup. In the end, Thomas Strasser took tenth place in the Olympic Recurve Master Class and Enzio Harpaintner, who was taking part in an archery competition for the first time, placed 20th in the age group over 50.

The archery event took place as part of the multisport event Finals 2021 in the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

It was not a “real” German championship this time, because the association was unable to hold proper qualifying tournaments due to the pandemic.

Therefore, interested archers could apply for a starting place this year by submitting a training result.

Something that the two friends from Freising were only too happy to do - even if the starting position of the two could not have been more different.

Harpaintner is breaking new ground

While Thomas Strasser has been archery for 20 years, works as a licensed trainer at TSV Jahn Freising and has already shot several German championships and tournaments in the age groups, the German Cup was completely new territory for Enzio Harpaintner. Because the 54-year-old had only started archery in October 2020 and competed in his first competition among the over 50-year-olds in Berlin.

Strasser and Harpaintner have been friends since their time together at the St. Klara kindergarten in Freising. The contact never broke off, both were active together for 30 years in the karate club. Thomas Strasser discovered his passion for archery 20 years ago and was surprised when his friend asked last autumn if he could also start archery. The 53-year-old trainer and press attendant of the archery department at TSV Jahn Freising also immediately said yes - and began a kind of distance-learning archery course with his buddy Enzio during the pandemic. Although the TSV Jahn training area at the Park & ​​Ride car park was closed, both found private opportunities to train outdoors during the winter months. The training instructions,Newcomer Enzio, who is an experienced trainer in karate himself, got the corrections and tips through thousands of WhatsApp messages and numerous Zoom meetings.

Private archery course bears fruit

In the meantime, Enzio has received a very solid basic training, says his archery trainer Thomas Strasser.

The docile student seems to have a lot of talent in addition to ambition, because a few months after starting his archery career he achieved the qualification training result required for participation in the German Cup.

At his first competition in Berlin, the 54-year-old Harpaintner was a bit nervous, says his trainer.

But with 20th place he left five participants behind in difficult wind conditions, which was a top performance after such a short time as an archer.

Thomas Strasser also draws a consistently positive balance for himself.

In a Germany-wide tournament that cannot be compared with a regional championship, one could definitely speak of a successful tournament with a tenth place.

In addition, at the German Cup in Berlin, the joy could be felt from all sides, reports the 53-year-old, finally being able to stand at the shooting line at a tournament and see all the familiar faces again.

Josef Fuchs

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