When the track cycling world championships begin outside of Paris on Wednesday, all eyes will be on Emma Hinze again. The Cottbus native has already won five world titles. Now three more titles could follow.
At the World Cup in Berlin 2020 it was still a sensation when Emma Hinze won gold. Three times. But now she dominates the world’s velodromes like no other. “I’ve noticed that I’m perceived differently. When I win, it’s like a kind of ticking off for others. She just made it,” says Hinze with a critical undertone. “You have to be careful and acknowledge what is being done. But that also applies to me. Otherwise it becomes toxic.”
Hinze won ten titles in twelve months
Within the past twelve months, the Hildesheim native has won two world championship titles, the women’s Champions League and three European Championship gold medals. In addition, there are the German championship titles in the sprint, keirin, team sprint and in the 500 meter time trial. Emma Hinze expresses herself in detail in the current “Sportschau Tourfunk”.
That’s ten titles, much more was hardly possible. “When I go into a competition, I always give it my all,” said the Cottbus resident. “But when you know what’s to come, it’s really a lot for the body. The season is continuous for us. We just don’t have a break. It just goes on and on.”
This is not without problems. At the European Championships in Munich in mid-August, she went beyond her limits. Her body didn’t cooperate anymore. Hinze had to throw up and couldn’t eat anything. But still won.
World Cup gold is the goal
But after the World Cup, the Lausitzer takes a break. She allows herself a week’s vacation. She wants: Just switch off. Until then, the mission to defend the title is just outside of Paris.
This applies to the team sprint with the Cottbus training colleagues Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch. And also for the sprint: “If we were fifth and I win bronze, then I’m not satisfied.” Hinze wants more: “I would like to defend the World Cup jersey, but it’s a World Cup, and that means hard work.”
She doesn’t like the comparison with Kristina Vogel
Emma Hinze has already won five world titles. In theory, she could get three more gold medals (team sprint, sprint and keirin) in France if the world champion also competes three times. Regardless of that, Hinze is getting closer and closer to one of the best track cyclists of all time: Kristina Vogel. She won eleven world titles before her serious fall in Cottbus.
Emma Hinze doesn’t like the comparison with Vogel: “I don’t want to be someone’s successor and I don’t want to emulate anyone, I just want to be me and do everything the way I want to do it.” And that has been working pretty well since the 2020 World Cup.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 11, 2022, 10 a.m
