BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe – Verena Sailer to run at BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe Europe\’s sprinting queen in the Europahalle

After Christian Reif, Verena Sailer is another European champion from Barcelona to run at the BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe's Europahalle on 13 February 2011. Athlete coordinator Alain Blondel thus remains true to his word of "bringing top German athletes in particular to Karlsruhe."

Besides a good helping of luck, it was above all her incredible speed of reaction that enabled her to take part in the 100-metre final at the European championships in Barcelona on 29 July. Shortly after the starting shot in the semi-final the 25-year-old sprinter stumbled after having leaned a little too far forward, only just managing to avoid a fall. She remained on her feet and left the other competitors without a chance, running faster than she'd ever done before to a place in the final. The clocks stopped her at 11.06 seconds and if the backwind hadn't been a breath too strong at 2.2 m/sec, it would have been her new personal best.
 
Verena Sailer got over it though because she'd made it to the final and she still had a chance of a medal in the "crowning discipline" of track and field athletics. "It was a shock for me," she said afterwards. "But it was what I needed. I wasn't nervous enough before the start. It was the kick I needed." It was with this "kick" that her success story began, crowned in the final by winning the title of European champion. It was in this final that Verena Sailer sped over the finishing line after 11.10 seconds, eight hundredths of a second faster than her previous best time and a hair's breadth ahead of Veronique Mang of France. She brought a 100-metre title back to Germany 20 years after Katrin Krabbe.

One person who had had his awareness drawn to her in Barcelona right from the outset was Alain Blondel. For him, she was a very hot favourite for the title even before the semi-final. The BW-Bank Meeting's athlete coordinator had had the right hunch, pleased all the more that he can now present Verena Sailer to Karlsruhe's athletics fans at the BW-Bank Meeting in the Europahalle on 13 February 2011. Sailer was supposed to run at the last event with the other members of the German 4×100-metre relay team, which had won bronze at the world championships in Berlin in 2009, but she had to forego the indoor season 2010 due to a torn muscle fibre in her back muscles.

This time, however, the athlete that took third place at the 2009 European indoor championships will be at the BW-Bank Meeting on 13 February 2011. Her best time in the 60-metres has been 7.17 seconds since this indoor EC in Turin, which she ran in the semi-final. Although this is still quite some way from the German record, held by Marita Koch and Silke Möller at 7.04 seconds – these two records were set in 1985 and 1987.
For Verena Sailer, who was awarded the Sports Bambi in 2010 after the European championships, the pursuit of the record is not the decisive issue. She simply wants to continually improve her performance even though she knows that she has chosen a difficult discipline from an international point of view. "I chose it to get as much from it as I can and because I enjoy it. And I'll continue sprinting as long as I enjoy it," she once said in an interview when asked about her motivation in the face of almost overwhelming competition.

This native of the Allgäu region of German, who runs for MTG Mannheim, naturally enjoys her sport all the more when she achieves her goals. One of these goals in this year's indoor season are the European indoor championships in Paris (4 to 6 March) where she'd love to win another medal. To get the best shot at achieving these ambitions, Sailer, a hot favourite for sportswoman of the year 2010 on Sunday, wants to further improve her best indoor time. The track in the Europahalle, known to be fast, is certainly not the worst location for such plans.

Advance ticket sales for the BW-Bank Meeting have already begun. The prices have remained unchanged again. Category 1 tickets cost €24.50, Category 2 €19.50, and discount tickets €14.50. All prices include the advance booking fee and statutory VAT. Tickets are available from the tourist information office at the main railway station in Karlsruhe and can also be purchased at all the familiar advance ticket offices or via the ticket hotline 0721/25000 and online at www.eventim.de.

More details are available on the Internet at www.bw-bank-meeting.