It’s almost as if Katharina Müller was there live. She can hardly stay in her chair while the figure skaters’ rhythm dance is taking place this Friday (03/25/2022) in Montpellier, France. Again and again she moves to the music, dances along or follows the movements of the ice dancers in France with her upper body.
Corona in Germans WM-Starters
But ice dancer Müller is not at the World Cup. From a hotel in Düsseldorf, she follows what is happening in southern France. Müller and her partner were not nominated as German runners-up. Instead, the German Skating Union (ENG) the Oberstdorf duo Jennifer Jansa van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan the Montpellier ticket. What the German champions cannot redeem after a corona infection in the 36-year-old from Chemnitz. Suddenly it was WM-Door open again for Müller and Dieck.
“There were incidents”
“We thought long and hard about doing it”says Müller, who is connected to the sports show live stream of rhythm dance from Düsseldorf with reporter Daniel Weiss.
“There were a few incidents after the Olympic Games that brought us to a mental low. That’s why we said to ourselves, mentally and physically, we are not in a position to represent Germany in the best possible way.”explains Müller, who has been collaborating with Dieck since 2014, ambiguously.
The frustration of not being nominated for the World Cup runs deep. Because the winter was going well for Dortmund up to that point. At the European Championships they ran to their best result in twelfth place, and the duo also set new personal bests in rhythm dancing (69.73 points) and in the overall ranking (173.74 points) this season. At the Olympics, she was 21st and missed the freestyle final by just 0.06 points.
No more training in Moscow
It hurts that Müller can’t be in Montpellier now: “It hurts my soul”, says the 26-year-old. It’s not the only uncomfortable thought these days. Russia’s war against the Ukraine also had very noticeable consequences for Müller/Dieck.
Training in the Russian capital Moscow with trainer Anjelika Krylova is not possible, it is currently unclear what will happen next for the three-time German champions. “It will probably take longer before we can go back to Russia. Finding a good solution will be our biggest task.”
living with epilepsy
But Müller is used to dealing with challenges. She had her first epileptic seizure ten years ago and has had to take medication regularly ever since. “My illness was diagnosed at the age of 16”Müller speaks in the Sportschau for the first time publicly about her epilepsy, a milder form of the disease.
And also about the fact that, as a 16-year-old competitive athlete, she wasn’t always so precise about taking her medication. “I thought, ‘What can happen to me?’ It was only after a seizure that I took it seriously.”.
Sleep, pills, exercise, live healthy
Since then, taking medication has no longer been an issue, even if her speed on the ice has decreased as a side effect of the pills. The fact that she can compete in figure skating in the top 15 in Europe despite her illness makes her a role model for many people with similar illnesses. your personal recipe? “I keep myself healthy and fit, I have to sleep a lot, I can’t be sleep deprived. Don’t forget the pills and live healthy.”
“If you go five years without a seizure…”
But your very personal goal is something else: “The doctors say that if you go five years without an attack, you can reduce the pills. Then, in the best-case scenario, you can go without the pills. That’s my personal goal for my health.” In terms of sport, the 2023 World Cup in Japan could be added as a major goal. And then hopefully with less frustration.