Konstanze Klosterhalfen surprised himself and, after difficult times, sensationally stormed to the 5,000 m title at the home European Championships in Munich. It should be an initial spark for the lightweight, which can flay like no other.
When the historic coup succeeded and Konstanze Klosterhalfen rushed to the finish over 5,000 meters after a great performance, she did what she always wants to do: she just kept running. Straight to the lap of honor. Nothing could stop her that evening. A liberation. “This euphoria, I could have kept running. Especially after the last two years, this title means so much to me,” she said happily. “This is the best moment of my life. It’s a dream.”
Lots of bad luck with injuries and then Corona
First problems in one hip, then in the other due to an overload reaction, in 2020 the third place in the 2019 World Cup had to do without competitions over 5,000 meters. She broke off last indoor season because of a hamstring injury after a fall in January. And Klosterhalfen missed the German championships at the end of June because of a corona infection that she contracted in the altitude training camp in Switzerland. She was positive for 15 days. “If you get through there, you have a different attitude,” said the 25-year-old after her triumph in Munich.
Not that there’s even the slightest doubt as to their motivation. On the contrary. “She’s the toughest athlete I’ve ever trained. She always gives you more than she actually has,” reported her trainer Pete Julian in Munich. “She wants everything. It’s my job to sort it out and teach her patience.” The coach, with whom Klosterhalfen stayed even after the Nike Oregon Project ended, flew in from the USA at short notice on the day of the 5,000-meter European Championship final. “It was his first time at a competition in Germany. He must have seen how crowded the stadium is here,” said Klosterhalfen.
“The audience was amazing”
They, too, carried around 35,000 frenetic fans to the finish in the Olympic Stadium. Like some teammates before. That had haunted her. And looking forward to it. “I really didn’t run alone. Step by step the audience got louder. It was amazing,” she said. Especially when she passed the leading 10,000 meter European champion Yasemin Can from Turkey with 650 meters to go and continued to increase her lead, driven by the spectators. “It was so loud I didn’t even hear the bell from the last lap.”
So now European champion over 5,000 meters. As the first Germans. your first title. Completely unexpected, after three weeks earlier at the World Championships in Eugene over 5,000 meters she had been exhausted and had to drop out in the preliminary heat. And she wasn’t satisfied with her performance over 10,000 meters on Monday (08/15/2022) in Munich, although she was only four seconds ahead of her German record in fourth place in 31:05.21 minutes. But the training had promised more. However, the “racing feel” wasn’t there; not full power.
Coach Julian gets on the plane at short notice
It’s back now. And Konstanze Klosterhalfen overjoyed. “Maybe it was the weeks that were missing from regeneration. Somehow it hadn’t quite worked out until now. But today I didn’t feel tired for a second,” she said, beaming. Up until the day before, it had not been certain that she would compete again at the home European Championship. The coach was against it. But she prevailed. And the coach gets on the plane.
“I really wanted to run here, also for the public. It doesn’t matter how it turns out. I really didn’t expect it to be a super race. I couldn’t believe it until the last step.”
“The goal remains to beat the world”
The first major title of her career gives the 25-year-old self-confidence. For the future and the really big tasks at the highest level. “The first goal remains to beat the world. From training I was very close to keeping up with the front runners. But this step shows that you can also get out of the lows,” explained the lightweight running miracle.
“She’s still very young”
“Yes, she seems fragile,” said Julian. “But she’s getting stronger and taking care of herself. It’s a maturing process. She knows what to do off the track to stay healthy.” The coach still sees a lot of potential: “The world’s best runners reach their peak between 30 and 35. And Koko is still very young.” The plan sounds simpler for the new European champion: “If I stay healthy, then we can train hard.”