Verena Sailer back in contention – European Athletics (EAA) – News

After a winter of injury and a lowly seventh place at the SPAR European Athletics Team Championships in Bergen, the season was not looking promising for Germany's sprint queen – Verena Sailer.

But in the national championships in Braunschweig last weekend, Sailer shot up the rankings and is back contention for a medal in after she collected her fifth national title with an excellent time of 11.23. That makes the Mannheimerin fifth fastest European going into the championships and raises the prospect of a medal.

Though she was cautious enough to say she hoped her form would be good enough to get to the final in Barcelona, a semi-final in Braunschweig in 11.28 followed by 11.23 into a slight wind in the final suggest that she will almost certainly take her place amongst the finalists on the 29th of July.

At 24, Sailer already has the experience behind her to take the championships in her stride. It was three years ago in Debrecen, Hungary, that she laid the foundation for an international senior career when she took the European U23 crown.

Then in the winter of 2009, she celebrated an excellent bronze in the 60m at the European indoor championships in Torino clocking 7.22. She also set a personal best 7.17 in the semi-finals.

That bronze represented her first senior medal in a major championship and was a springboard for greater things later that summer.

On the final day of the Berlin world championships, Sailer anchored the German quartet to a resounding bronze in front of 60,000 spectators for her second major medal in six months.

A personal best in 2009 of 11.18 promised good things for 2010 and a wind-aided 11.11 win in Wattenscheid suggested that maybe the world's elite might have to start worrying about this tenacious German.

But then came injury and 2010 has been a tentative voyage of recovery. It was not that the qualifying time for Barcelona of 11.35 was a problem. She overcame that on a handful of occasions before the trip to Bergen where she could manage no better than seventh in a disappointing 11.39.

She insisted, though, that she was not too worried because “my season is geared towards the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.” Braunschweig suggests she got that absolutely right.

While there may have been some doubts about her ability to come back from injury in time, Sailer herself had no doubts, insisting that the one thing she does not do is panic: “I don't let myself get stressed,” she says.

“I try to do my thing and only concentrate on myself. I know I can run fast, but you have to stay relaxed.”

Barcelona will show just how fast Sailer can be.

European Athletics (EAA) – News