After winning the silver medal at the European Athletics Championships last summer and flying to an early 2011 world lead of 4.65m in her debut competition for the year, German pole vaulter Silke Spiegelburg has established herself as one of the favourites for the gold medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in six weeks time.
The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships will be held in the French capital Paris at the Palais Omnisport Paris-Bercy from 4-6 March.
The European Athletics Indoor Championships also holds a special place in the 24-year-old two-time European junior champion’s heart as she won her first medal as a senior athlete when she finished second at the championship two years ago in Torino, Italy, where she cleared her still-standing absolute personal best of 4.75m.
In an interview with the German athletics federation website www.leichtathletik.de Spiegelburg talks about last season and her indoor ambitions.
Q: How have your winter preparations gone so far?
A: It started very well at first but in December I bruised my shoulder and needed a little break but still I feel fitter than in previous years, and my head is free, mentally I have no worries. Now, I just have to put everything into practice.
Q: What are your plans for the indoor competitions?
A: The goal is just to vault well regularly. The target is a good start to the season, especially after the break. I missed three weeks so I need to get my co-ordination back. In addition, my run-up has been changed, it is now longer. We'll see how that works in competition situations, but I'm looking forward to the competitions.
Q: What are your goals for this winter?
A: I want to do well at the German indoor championships, and I’ll see from there. I always seem to be able to do good jumps in Leipzig (the venue for the German indoor championships on 26-27 February) and I like the atmosphere there. You almost forget that it’s winter time there. Perhaps the 'compulsory break' I had in December even had an advantage because then I could focus on other aspects points. I’ll just let myself be surprised there.
Q: Initially, you seemed not very satisfied with your silver medal at last summer’s European Athletics Championships so how do you evaluate the 2010 season now?
A: It was a very good season but I had a lot of bad luck last year with winds and the settings of the stands during the competitions. This also includes the German championships in Braunschweig last July, when the German record (4.77m held by Annika Becker since 2002) was within my grasp. I like to be in the mood to jump and have fun but it was very cold, it had been raining constantly and was very windy. I leapt well over 4.65m, and did everything right at 4.78m, I even thought for two seconds, “I’m over”, but then I was blown against the crossbar. This was a small downer. However, last year I increased my personal best outdoors (4.71m) and I jumped 4.70m more than ever before. This shows that I was very strong last season and that gives me security.