The Taunus Zeitung is calling for the 2021 sports election in the Hochtaunus. We introduce you to the candidates who have been nominated in the “Sportswoman of the Year” category.
Bad Homburg – A quintet is nominated in the category “Sportswoman of the Year”. We present the candidates in short portraits. You can then vote for your athlete of the year here.
Jule Behrens: Four times gold makes for a perfect season
Maybe it has something to do with the emotions that the sport conveys that its spectators like to wallow in superlatives. If a footballer hits the ball from a distance with his shot, it’s not just about a nice goal, but also about “Goal of the Month” or “Goal of the Year”. With regard to Jule Behrens’ triathlon career, however, it is actually true that it has recently gone perfectly. There was nothing left in 2021 that she could have won in her age group.
The 18-year-old won two gold medals at the U20 European Championships in Kitzbühel (single and mixed relay) in June, followed by victory at the German Championships in Jena in September. And in November, the Darmstadt native crowned her extraordinary season with the world championship title at the title fights in the Portuguese Algarve. After swimming 750 meters, cycling 20 kilometers and running 5 kilometers in 1:01:01 hours, she was seven seconds ahead of Tilda Mansson of Sweden. “I really enjoyed crossing the finish line,” said the almost petite runner with the plaited pigtail. Of course, it would be days before she fully understood the triumph.
Also in athletics, Behrens, then in the jersey of Königsteiner LV, cuts a more than good figure. At the U20 European Championships in Tallinn, she finished eighth in the 5,000 meters (16:47.26 minutes). This year she will focus fully on triathlon. There are a few titles to defend in her age group. . . (rem)
Mara Guth: Ready for a professional career after DM silver
For tennis talent Mara Guth, the year 2021 was as extraordinary as it was successful. In terms of sport, there was nothing to be desired at the end of her time in the youth field. Alongside her national team colleague Julia Middendorf (TV Isbek), she won the gold medal in doubles at the U18 European Championships in Klosters, Switzerland.
The 18-year-old right-hander also caused a sensation at youth Grand Slams. At the French Open, she reached a quarterfinal for the first time in the most important tournament series in the world. A special game was undoubtedly the first round game at the WTA tournament in Bad Homburg’s Kurpark in June. She received a wildcard for her ATP premiere with women and sold herself dearly against professional player Nadia Podoroska at 0: 6, 3: 6.
At the end of the year, the Usinger THC power girl was in 23rd place in the ITF youth world rankings with 1186.25 points, after having reached the best position in her career on September 6th with 14th place. And with her entry into the final of the German women’s indoor championship on December 12 in Biberach, Mara Guth proved that she is ready for the next step on the way to a professional career.
The personal record of the previous year also includes passing the driver’s license test, changing school from Usinger CWS to a high school in Mannheim and changing to a new team of coaches in Regensburg headed by Slovakian Ivo Klec. (sp)
Julie Hölterhoff: From zero to one hundred in three months
Julie Hölterhoff had to wait a long time for her first competition in 2021, according to the association directives she was only allowed to prove herself after the Olympic Games. And then the judoka from the first division team Homburger TG really took off. First, in September, she won the title in the 70-kilo class at the German Championships in Stuttgart – the first in her fourth participation. Mental pressure weighed on her, because the Olympic starters were not there at the DM. After four successful fights there was gold.
This success gave the 24-year-old her first participation in a Grand Prix. In Zagreb, Hölterhoff reached seventh place – with at least 21 starters. “At the highest level, with the crème de la crème,” she says, she has defeated opponents and gained experience.
After this strong result, the German Judo Federation (DJB) gave her even more confidence and nominated her for a Grand Slam. In November the route led to the Caucasus. And in her last competition of the year, the number 48 in the world rankings made it to fifth place in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. “From zero to one hundred” is how the martial artist describes what has happened in three months of her sporting life. Before that, Hölterhoff had to be content with many training camps. She couldn’t be happy about that. In the Bundesliga, Hölterhoff almost incidentally won all of her eight fights and led the HTG team to fifth place. (fri)
Lilli Kaiser: After the world title, tears are falling in the living room
It’s crazy: Lilli Kaiser achieved the greatest successes of her career in the period when it was most difficult to prepare properly for competitions of international format and in the last possible year for the time being, in which she can act at a very high level the sports aerobics. The girl from Oberstedten became world champion in the duo discipline with her partner Annika Junck, who grew up in Oberreifenberg. As a single starter, Kaiser came in second. The fact that the successes had to be celebrated in the living room at home because the competitions were held online and videos had been submitted for them did not change the joy of the young ladies at the Farnung sports school. Tears rolled down.
But Lilli Kaiser was also “in presence” in 2021 like never before. With Junck, who is three years her junior, the 21-year-old won bronze at the European Championships in Agen, France. Germany hadn’t won a medal in this Eastern European-dominated competition for a long time. “A terrific success,” said Michaela Steyer, head of the sports school and trainer of the duo. In the singles it was enough for Kaiser to place five. She had convinced with her two and a half minute freestyle, a mixture of gymnastics, dance and acrobatics. The athletes switch between jumps, splits and push-ups at lightning speed to the music. As aerobics world champion, Lilli Kaiser is now changing her focus. She starts her semester abroad in International Sports Management in South Africa. (rem)
Maryse Luzolo: Fairytale comeback culminates in Tokyo
If the live pictures from Tokyo could not have been followed on home screens in the summer, the story of Maryse Luzolo could also be a fairy tale. With a happy ending – at least as far as the year 2021 is concerned. After all, the Olympic participant in the Königsteiner LV still has plans for her long jump career. Four years ago most people thought their careers were over. In a training accident through no fault of her own, her left knee was literally smashed in 2017. With an iron will, the daughter of Congolese parents worked her way back after a two-year break from competition.
At the end of May, the 26-year-old finally set her personal best of 6.61 meters in the national jersey. In doing so, she won a discipline at the European Team Cup in Chorzow, Poland. At the German Championships in Braunschweig, 6.55 meters was enough for silver (just behind the later Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo). And at the meeting in Leverkusen, the Frankfurt native with the dreadlocks raised her best mark to 6.69 meters – making her one of the top 32 in the world rankings to get a ticket for the summer games. “I can’t believe it. I’ve really outgrown myself over the last few years. I’ve worked so hard, endured so much pain, to be where I am now,” the biology student wrote on Instagram. The fact that she did not qualify in Tokyo with 6.54 meters was only a small drop of bitterness for her. (rem)
