2024 turned out to be a horror year for Konstanze Klosterhalfen. The athletics star now looked back on the difficult times.
Konstanze Klosterhalfen struggled with the consequences of an infection for much of the past year. The medal hopes had to cancel the starts at the European Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games.
In a contribution to “WDR Lokalzeit”, Klosterhalfen looked back on her time of suffering.
“The summer went quite wrong. That was a bit of a shame because in January I still thought I was in the form of my life,” she said.
The 27-year-old added: “In a year with the European Championships and the Olympic Games, it was a bad time.”
Klosterhalfen made her comeback in September and slowly worked her way back to her top form.
At the end of October, Klosterhalfen showed decent form again at the half marathon in Valencia. In 67:07 minutes she ran the second fastest time of her career over this distance. She won the silver medal at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in December.
Klosterhalfen receives support from Oliver Mintzlaff
Klosterhalfen is currently training in Switzerland. She works closely with Red Bull managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, who is a family friend and used to be a long-distance runner himself.
Switzerland is “a great training area” where you can do “a lot of altitude training,” assured Klosterhalfen and added: “I have the support from the village with Oliver (Mintzlaff, editor’s note). He gave me the support Training plans helped us do that very well in preparation for the cross season.”
This year Klosterhalfen wants to intervene in international business again on the railways. The World Athletics Championships will take place in Tokyo in September.