800-meter specialist Majie Kolberg from the German Athletics Association (DLV) made the international breakthrough last year and was a sensation both at the European Championship in Rome and at the Olympic Games on her parade discipline. The 25-year-old then dared to start a new start.
In an exclusive interview with sport.de Majie Kolberg has now talked about her new coach Jan Petrak, about her new training group around DLV colleague Alica Schmidt, the successful experiment at the German indoor championships and about the big goals for the World Cup year 2025.
Ms. Kolberg, you have been a little sick in the past few days. Hence the question: How are you now?
Majie Kolberg: After a long time it caught me again with a normal cold. Unfortunately a little too late: After the European Hall in Apeldoorn, I had a week free and thought that she would break out. But it only came after I flew to South Africa, where I had now cold the first week. I am in the training camp for almost three weeks here and have slowly started training again. I have to be patient, but since nothing burns at the moment, I’m the calm myself.
Does such a cold throw you far back in preparation?
It depends on the course of the disease, I had no fever. Therefore, I was able to start training quite quickly, albeit with the handbrake on. We are currently in the upgrade block, so it doesn’t hurt so if you don’t train for two weeks. Who knows what it was good for. Now I can finally prepare for the outdoor season.
Let’s take a look back at the past indoor season. After a great start at the beginning with times close to the magical 2-minute brand and the German championship title over the 1,500 m, a damper followed. At the Hallen European Championships in Apeldoorn, they left in advance. What were the reasons? Can this be explained afterwards?
First of all, I have to say that I am still very satisfied with my performance from the indoor season. I took a big step at the end of last year and joined an international training group: new coaching team, new training philosophy. I train completely differently than before. You always think about whether you deny an indoor season at all, because it starts very early in January. But I struggled well on training and so we dared to take the step. That was also worth it, I am very grateful for my results – for the good and the bad ones. I had top results over a long period of time, it is in the nature of competitive sports that there is also a damper.
At the competition in Apeldoorn, there was also a championship race. You don’t go full throttle like with a sprint, it’s about tactics. So I would not say that the shape was not there, although I ran two and a half seconds slower. Other preliminaries were won in 2:08 minutes, so you don’t just look at the time. You want to get the big QS for the qualification for the next round. In my course of the race, it was a time of 2:02, 2:03 minutes. I trained well, but you shouldn’t ignore the mental and emotional when running and I think that something was out for me because I had so many highs in the indoor and outdoor season 2024.
Let’s put it this way: I baked a great cake in the indoor season. I didn’t want to have the cherry on top in Apeldoorn. It is ticked off, I processed it well.
Nevertheless, a question: From the outside, your very successful change of discipline at the German championships from the 800 m to the 1,500 m catches the eye. That was also intended as preparation for the Hallen European Championship, wasn’t it? So did the experiment fail?
It was the reason. I ran the 1,500 m to be fit in Apeldoorn. After the races in January and February, it was an incentive to bring a little change in. We saw that I also have potential over the 1,500 m if it becomes a race with a final sprint and then it could be enough for a medal. I would not see it as failed. Whether I would have won the 800 m or the 1,500 m, that would not have changed the result in Apeldoorn. So I was not tired, I was simply incredibly happy about the gold medal at the German Championships, which subsequently damped me a bit. I was saturated by the great results.
They have been training under the Slovenian Jan Petrak for several months now. A lot is new, they have already mentioned. So the change worked well? What has changed specifically?
I am very satisfied with my decision, both from a human and sporting perspective. I feel very comfortable in the group, the mood is great. Without this good atmosphere in training, it wouldn’t go so well in the competition. A lot is different: I have harder and longer units, we do more weekly kilometers and at the same time more intensive units. There is also strength training. We slowly worked ourselves there so that the increase is not too abrupt. I believe that it is exactly the right concept for me to create a good basis and to perform internationally.
Keyword internationally: In your training group, you work together with the Finnen Veera Peräla and Eveliina Mättänen as well as with your DLV colleague Alica Schmidt. How do you like working with the three?
Schmidt and Kolberg at the indoor meeting in Erfurt
It is the first time I am in a training group. Before that, only a few 800-meter girls from the DLV or with Christina Hering had trained. But now we are already something like a small family, in the training camp we have a kind of flat share. We all have our own strengths and push and motivate each other. It can be seen supercool that we all harmonize and tick similarly.
In the race, however, they are competitors, in the 800-meter run you have to get space. Was there a situation in which you got in the way?
No, actually not. We all got into the indoor season together in Erfurt. There are two different types of 800 m race. On the one hand, in which you run around time, as in Erfurt. On the other hand, the championships where it is more about tactics. In Erfurt we all agreed that each of us wanted to run quickly and that we did not go to each other on the biscuit. It was a race made. But of course: With Eveliina, I happened to be in a lead in Apeldoorn. However, we made a team thing out of it to get the big QS each. Of course, when it comes to the medals, it doesn’t work anymore. But we can differentiate that well. Then we are competitors, but also still friends who treat themselves to everything when the other was better. That’s no problem.
How do you now have to imagine that in the training camp in South Africa. There will also be height training in the next three weeks?
We are currently in Dullstroom, at 2,000 meters. That is already decent. In the first week you have to be careful not to overpower. And then there is basic training. We make 80 to 100 kilometers a week with many threshold units. Every Saturday it gets really exhausting in the workout. Otherwise there is a lot of low intensities so that the basis is there and we hold out at the Tokyo World Championships until September. We want to create a sustainable basis for the summer season.
It was not clear to me that the weekly size is so big …
That adds up! But if someone wants to go on a bike, it works too. This is all variable.
And the training is not just on the track, isn’t it?
Exactly, there are so many options in South Africa. This is very cool.
You have already seen how satisfied you were with the last year, as an international breakthrough: Among other things, you were fifth at the European Championship in Rome, at Olympia in Paris you reached the semi -finals and set up a new personal best. They regularly cracked the 2-minute mark. So what has to happen this summer to top that? Is that the bar?
Of course it would be supercool if I could build on it. I was able to show in the hall that it is possible. The season outside is very long with the climax in September. This is a large challenge for everyone, then reaching the peak. Everything can happen on the 800 m: you can put a 1:57 minutes in advance and then fly out in the lead. The goal is of course after the semi -finals in Paris to qualify for a final. I would lie if I didn’t want to move towards the top eight.
However, I don’t look too much for September, but I’m initially looking forward to the first races in which it will be different because it makes a difference whether you run two or four rounds. Have a constant level of less than two minutes and fun – and then let’s see if it is enough for a new best time this year.
Last question: You are traveling a lot, now in the training camp in South Africa, soon one is in the Pyrenees before competitions in Zagreb and Dresden are in the program. They live in Dortmund, but study teaching in Cologne. How do you get it all under one hat?
I am now writing my bachelor thesis, so I no longer have to take any courses at the university. I just couldn’t do that with my current lifestyle. That would not be possible and I am grateful that I checked off all the present days before the Olympic Games. When I have the Bachelor in my pocket, I first see when it goes on with the master or initially doing something else. I think it is important to do otherwise in addition to sport.