Daran, that without the coronavirus crisis, the Olympic Games in Tokyo would have started on Friday, Carolin Schäfer no longer wastes any thought. “I finished with it,” says the heptathlete at LG Eintracht Frankfurt. The shift would accommodate her. “I won a year with it.” Last autumn, the 28-year-old missed the World Cup in Doha due to a knee injury. Shortly afterwards, the 2017 silver medalist announced that she would part with coach Jürgen Sammert after eight years and make a fresh start with the parents of decathlon world champion Niklas Kaul, Michael and Stefanie Kaul. “We turned everything 180 degrees,” says Carolin Schäfer.
That should give her a bigger chance of the desired precious metal in Asia next year. Their techniques have been changed or rearranged in all disciplines. For example, when throwing a javelin, it no longer runs so close to the line so that it is easier to go forward with the aircraft instead of having to brake its speed. In the shot put, where she did not book a valid attempt in Götzis in 2018, she returned to the more controllable planing, a technique that Bad Wildunger used to do when she was young. During the high jump, it pushes further away from the crossbar.
Such changes in movements, some of which have been running in for years, do not work overnight. “It’s a process,” says Carolin Schäfer. The fact that she can now experiment for a year unencumbered by great pressure and work on the fact that the new becomes routine, that she no longer has to think about the basics every time she tries, makes the 2018 European Championship thirds relax. In recent months, Carolin Schäfer was anything but a runner, both physically and mentally, even without important competitions. In the 800-meter race at the end of a heptathlon, it was difficult. To warm up, she only did two laps in training and covered five kilometers once a month. She could not have imagined a route twice as long. Today, even during an active recovery week, 15, 16 kilometers are on the plan within two days, and a unit in the group begins with a first comparison with the men over 3000 meters.
The acquisition of even better foundations is intended to help her put away all-around fighting more easily, regenerate faster, so that she is still fresh on the second day of a heptathlon. She has no doubts that such a change, especially in the technical area, could not bring the hoped-for progress. “The overall concept convinces me,” says the athlete. The coaches, who have led their own son to World Cup and European Championship gold in all age groups, “exude so much confidence”, and communication also works. With her passion, she herself has the smile on her face that she previously missed. The new team has to get used to each other in the competition. “You have to see how I tick, how I can implement clues.”
Carolin Schäfer has already made two first starts this summer. In Heidesheim her spear flew to 50.54 meters, with the ball she came to 13.84 meters. Last weekend followed the victory at the dike meeting in Neuwied, in which they came to 3807 points in four disciplines that “ran like a production line without a break”. “I have to collect as much competition practice as possible this year,” says Carolin Schäfer. Since the usual meetings of the all-rounders at international level as well as the European Championships in Paris fell victim to the pandemic, the German all-around championships from 21st to 23rd August in Vaterstetten represent the most important position determination for her this year start national title fights in the individual disciplines at the beginning of the month in Braunschweig.
The Olympic Games of 2016 do not worry that the games in Japan could be postponed again or even canceled. “I am an athlete who adheres to the facts,” emphasizes the police commissioner who has been released from duty. In this case, these are that the Tokyo opening ceremony is scheduled for July 23, 2021.
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