Almost five weeks after her fall in the water ditch, Lea Meyer runs to silver at the European Championships. The obstacle runner celebrated perhaps the most emotional German medal in Munich.
First her World Cup fall into the moat, then a corona infection – and now this silver medal: Lea Meyer couldn’t believe it. “I still don’t quite understand what happened here,” said the steeplechase runner, overjoyed and a bit at a loss.
Meyer took over 3000 m, perhaps the most emotional German EM medals in Munich. In 9:15.35 minutes, the 24-year-old beat her best time by around ten seconds on Saturday evening and provided a magical moment in the Olympic Stadium. But first and foremost, the success was a salvation for herself.
Five weeks ago, the (emotional) world of the student teacher from Cologne looked very different: soaking wet. With her mishap from Eugene, where she dived headlong into the moat in the lead, Meyer was a symbol of the state of the DLV aces after the historically bad World Cup.
“I already took the most important step to digest this fall in Eugene when I got up and walked over this moat again,” Meyer said in retrospect. This mishap was “annoying”, even “stupid”, “but at the end of the day it was just a lack of concentration”.
Race for the late coach
When, on the way to the high-altitude training camp in St. Moritz, a COVID illness also struck, the messed-up season seemed perfect. But Meyer fought on. “My great strength is that I always come back. I fall five times and get up six times,” she said.
Wrapped in a German flag, she shook her head an hour after her silver run and wiped tears from her eyes. She had previously had to pause at the TV microphone when the importance of her former coach was discussed.
“I thought before the race, Henning, the race is for you,” Meyer said after she had regained her composure. Tears rolled down her cheek. Henning von Papen, a coaching icon at ASV Köln, died at the end of January after a serious illness at the age of 69.
Her ex-coach, as Mayer later described in the belly of the Olympic Stadium, was the main reason why she still did competitive sports. After adolescence, she finally “didn’t feel like it anymore” and hung up her running shoes for four months. But: “Henning has awakened the fun in me again,” said Meyer.
Now she rewarded herself.