Beach volleyball player Kira Walkenhorst is playing again – and even dreams of the Olympics. By Franziska Breininger
Everything turned out differently than expected: Kira Walkenhorst actually wanted to prepare for her comeback with Melanie Gernert, then Corona mixed up the 29-year-old’s plans. This weekend, the beach volleyball Olympic champion is returning with a new partner – after a short preparation period, but with the aim of qualifying for the German championships in Düsseldorf. “The nervousness is not there yet, but I’m sure that it will come before the game,” says Walkenhorst. There was simply no time for such thoughts. It has only recently become clear that she is fighting with the 18-year-old Anna-Lena Grüne for a ticket for the national title fights in Timmendorfer Strand at the beginning of September.
“We had two weeks of preparation, we are at a good level at national level. That is why my goal is to qualify for Timmendorf, «says Walkenhorst. But she doesn’t expect that until the tour station in Hamburg from August 14th to 16th at the earliest. The newly formed duo first has to get used to it. The planned return with Melanie Gernert fell victim to the pandemic, instead the children were in the foreground. “It’s been four months now, and like many other parents, we had to look after the triplets at home full-time; except for a few stabilization exercises, there wasn’t really much to think about, «says Walkenhorst, whose wife Maria gave birth to triplets Emma, Pepe and Mo in autumn 2018.
When the call came about two weeks ago that the daycare center in Hamburg would open again, “I was left without a partner,” says Walkenhorst. Gernert had already looked for a new player after consultation. Although everything was “very short-term and with a lot of question marks”, the 2017 world champion stuck to her plan, and the national junior coaches finally brought Anna-Lena Grüne from Hildesheim into play.
With her, Walkenhorst wants to attack again, but slows expectations: “Of course I’m not at the level of 2016 yet.” That year, she and her partner at the time, Laura Ludwig, won Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro. Walkenhorst does not rule out starting again at the games: “If I notice that my body can do this painlessly, then I could actually imagine Paris 2024. But of course that also depends a little on the partner. “
Before doing this, she first has to work her way up to her capabilities: “The first week I had a lot of muscle soreness, but it levels off.” That shouldn’t bother her with the past few years. In August 2018, Walkenhorst played her supposedly last game before she had to end her career due to an injury. During this time, she sometimes had to stop training after ten minutes. “At some point I said it out loud: That was it, it no longer works.” Now it works again. SID/nd
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