For Sophie Kreiner, the day begins around six o’clock – and usually ends after homework after nine o’clock in the evening. He is clocked like a heptathlon, and in that the alcove woman is world class. At least at her age. The track and field athlete finished the U18 world rankings in first place in her discipline – in a world sport that’s a sensation. “I didn’t expect it and at first I didn’t think about it,” said the 17-year-old.
Exceptional talent or not – in Austria it is difficult to make a living from athletics, says the ATSV Linz athlete. For the student, who is graduating from the Peuerbach-Gymnasium in Linz this year, looking to the future is by no means based on worries, but rather on hopes and dreams.
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Formative experience
Kreiner shifted the inner coordinate system for worries and fears to a grounded level early on. This was due to a kidney tumor in her little sister Sara, who was dying in 2009 at the age of just 14 months (see box on the right). As a five-year-old, Sophie didn’t understand everything that was happening back then. “But that changed something. Even if I now sometimes say that I’m afraid of schoolwork, for example, that’s not really afraid. Because it’s so much less serious than when it comes to my sister’s health.”
One fragment she remembers is a Christmas that the family celebrated in the children’s area of a fast-food restaurant near the Vienna children’s hospital where Sara was treated. Despite all the improvisation, she found it “a wonderful experience”.
Because of Sara’s donor kidney, the family was cautious during the pandemic. In the first month, Sophie didn’t see anyone outside of her family. “I still remember what a highlight it was for me when I was allowed to go to the supermarket with my mom for the first time after a month,” Sophie explains how much she had lost social contacts. In terms of sport, however, the relapse was not great at all, because mother Sabine and father Herbert are their club coaches anyway. “Since there was no homeschooling at the beginning, I had more time for training,” she says of hill runs, sprints, jumps and strength units at her home.
Lost the sporting homeland
Her parents were state champions in athletics. Sabine ran to hurdle titles even after Sophie was born. Since her training ground was the Gugl, Sophie got a taste of the stadium air as a baby. The melancholy was all the greater when the Gugl was demolished a year ago. “It was sad because everything started there. We didn’t know what was going to happen next,” says the athlete. The expansion of the facility on Wieningerstrasse and the ongoing revitalization of the new ATSV home on Derfflingerstrasse allayed the uncertainties.
Because of the pandemic, Kreiner sees a need to catch up in one respect in particular: the U18 European Championship was canceled last year. With the current knowledge of the world rankings, it hurts twice. The chance of her first international medal would have been great. What would have been possible there, she indicated one age group higher – as fourth in the U20 World Cup. What is positive about the need to catch up? He fuels hunger. The U20 World Cup this year in Cali is the declared goal of the season. So dreaming is allowed.
Source: Nachrichten
