IKatharina Steinruck had not yet completed her Olympic premiere, when it was already clear to the 32-year-old that her appearance in Tokyo would not be the last at the World Games. While the marathon specialist was watching the opening ceremony in the Japanese capital on television before leaving for Asia, she shared this decision with her husband Robert. He was not surprised, says the sportswoman from Frankfurt Eintracht.
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Paris 2024 is therefore the next big goal. The hope is that the long distance runners will not be left out as they were at their races this year. Instead of going to the Olympic city, they started in Sapporo, 1000 kilometers away. There was hardly anything reminding of the fact that the event was a huge event. No flags, no banners indicated this, only the rings as a photo motif, which the athletes could not reach due to the pandemic-related restrictions.
From the European Youth Olympic Games, the athlete knows how such a cross-sport event feels when you have contact with representatives of other disciplines. She would also like to experience this at the active level. Preferably with better conditions than the Hessin by choice this time. The heat on the island of Hokkaido not only made problems for her, but also for numerous competitors. “We caught the hottest day, of all things,” remembers Katharina Steinruck.
While other runners collapsed and had to be treated by paramedics, she too became “a bit dim” from kilometers 15, 16. “But you’re only an Olympian if you finish.” That alone counted. With 31st place in 2:35 hours and thus exactly the same time that she needed to get 16th place during the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, she was “absolutely happy”.
October 31st is canceled
After returning home, two weeks of vacation were announced, “I didn’t do anything in terms of running”. The daughter of national coach Katrin Dörre-Heinig notices that now. A few days ago she resumed training. “I can feel every single step in my run,” she says. As the next challenge, the former German champion looked at the women’s run in Vienna at the beginning of October. For now, she does not tackle another route. After a long period in which everything was focused on Tokyo, she had to relax and clear her mind before making new plans.
The native of Leipzig had marked October 31st anyway. The Frankfurt Marathon was to take place on this day; at the race in front of their own doorstep, the policewoman, who is now taking reports in the Presidium on Adickesallee, is a regular guest. The classic 42.195-kilometer route would not have been queued, but a relay participation. But the event was canceled due to the pandemic.
Katharina Steinruck, who watched the Ironman in August, can understand the decision given the lack of planning security. “But football takes place in the stadium with 25,000 fans,” and the athletes themselves are very careful, she criticizes. For once, the attractive finish in the festival hall could have been dispensed with.
Now she’ll spend the day differently. Flexibility is part of life. This also applies to family planning in-house. Katharina Steinruck had originally announced that she would tackle this after the games in Tokyo. “We’ll see,” she says. A baby soon and Paris are not mutually exclusive.
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