2023-05-06 07:00:00
tzSportMore sports
Running star: Konstanze Klosterhalfen. © Photo: PUMA
From now on, running ace Konstanze Klosterhalfen relies on PUMA as a sponsor and Alistair Cragg as the new coach. The tz explained Klosterhalfen the change and gives a preview of the outdoor season.
Munich – It was a double change that caused a surprise in the athletics scene. The German world-class runner Konstanze Klosterhalfen relies on PUMA as a new sponsor and Alistair Cragg as a new coach.
At the end of 2018, Klosterhalfen shifted her training focus to the USA and joined the Nike Oregon Project under trainer Pete Julian. The training group for top runners was dissolved in 2019, and frontman Alberto Salazar was banned for four years for doping offenses. From then on, Klosterhalfen’s training in America was viewed critically, but there were and are no concrete reasons for distrust. Jürgen Kessing, President of the German Athletics Association, made it clear at the time: “Despite intensive checks, there were no complaints and she rejects any unauthorized method.”
Together with Julian, Klosterhalfen made it to the top of the world. Bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, gold at the European Championships last year in Munich, each over the 5000 m. After the triumph in Munich’s Olympic Stadium, Julian said: “She’s the toughest athlete I’ve ever trained. She always gives you more than she actually has.”
But now it was time for a new environment, a new impulse. Klosterhalfen speaks exclusively to our newspaper regarding her move: “The situation arose to look for opportunities on the market and PUMA showed me great ways that impressed me. It feels great and I’m looking forward to the upcoming time together.”
The 26-year-old has already sniffed the air with the new sponsor. In Boston, she attended the marathon, presented the new outfit on the catwalk and posed in front of a picture of Usain Bolt. The collaboration in North Carolina with Irishman Cragg, who used to be an active long-distance runner himself, has already picked up speed. “I was received very well and we harmonize really well.” Klosterhalfen speaks of “common goals” that have been defined and “adjusting screws” that must now be turned in order to attack the world leaders: “One adjustment screw is to work more on speed once more, especially over the 1500 m. I’ve lost sight of them a bit lately, also due to an injury. But the speed over the 1500 m is really good for me in the end, even over the 5000 m.”
Klosterhalfen will start the outdoor season over 1500 meters on Friday at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha. After that, it’s back to the training camp to work on the basics.
In the USA, Klosterhalfen recently ran races over 800 and 1500 m – the early form fits!
“It was fun to be back on the track and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season,” says the native of Bonn. The highlight of the season awaits in the summer with the World Championships in Budapest, which also serve as a qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The goals for Klosterhalfen are clear: ignite the turbo and then, as she announced following the gold medal in Munich, to beat the world.
By Nico-Marius Schmitz and Philipp Kessler
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