In autumn, Amos Bartelsmeyer was at a crossroads. The summer, which should have been a very special one for the 28-year-old, with a world championship in his adopted home of Oregon and continental title fights in Munich and thus the country for which the athlete has been starting since 2019, was disappointing. Due to the after-effects of a corona disease, the runner, who specializes in the 1500-meter distance, missed both home games. In addition, the contract with the sporting goods manufacturer Nike, which secured Bartelsmeyer’s livelihood and membership in a training group in the USA, expired. Thoughts arose of ending the professional career. After his master’s degree in finance, Bartelsmeyer also has other career paths open to him. Six months later, the Eintracht Frankfurt athlete knows: it was right not to give up.
This Thursday he starts at the European Indoor Championships in the Ataköy Arena in Istanbul. In the lead-up in the evening (7 p.m.), the sixth-placed rider from 2019 wants to recommend himself for the final on Friday (6.40 p.m.) and reach for a medal there with a “clever race”. Third place in the entry list led by Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen makes that seem realistic. If it doesn’t work out, “it won’t end the world,” says Bartelsmeyer. The EM under the roof is just “another building block” on the way to his goal outdoors: “I want to be among the best at the starting line in a World Cup final,” says the Olympic participant from 2021.
Injuries slowed him down
Bartelsmeyer was repeatedly slowed down by health problems: in 2020 a fatigue fracture in the hip, in 2021 one on the foot. Nevertheless, he had caught the plane to the games in Tokyo – but there he failed in the first round. Bartelsmeyer was only able to develop his talent for running, which had already become apparent when he was in elementary school, over short phases. Now the 1.82 meter tall and 62 kilogram light runner feels fit and confident enough to attack.
Amos Bartelsmeyer: He had had the idea of starting for Germany for a long time.
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Image: Huebner
The turning point for the better came in early December. Finally freed from the consequences of Corona, he wanted to recommend himself to his outfitter for continued employment with a good 5000 meter race. The season opener in Boston was a bang: Bartelsmeyer set a new German indoor record in 13:17.71 minutes and improved Arne Gabius’ record from 2015 by almost ten seconds. Sam Parsons, who, like him, slipped into the German jersey in 2019 and came to Eintracht, but is now on the road for Berlin, should top this performance a month later in 13:12.78.
New record over a mile
But Bartelsmeyer also followed suit and at the beginning of February smashed the 29-year-old German record over the mile by Jens-Peter Herold (3:53.74) in 3:50.45 minutes. With an interim time of 3:34.72 minutes, he undercut the European Championship norm of 3:37.40 and a week later was able to start and win the German championships in Dortmund in a relaxed manner. Bartelsmeyer cites the fact that he has been able to practice continuously for months as the reason for his good form. In addition, in the smaller group at the Union Athletics Club, to which he switched at the beginning of the year thanks to another cooperation with Nike, he trains more individually in all areas than in the unit previously subscribed to over longer distances. His new coach is Pete Julian, who led Konstanze Klosterhalfen to the European title over 5000 meters in 2022.
Between Dortmund and the flight to Istanbul, the German-American, who has two passports, enjoyed the time in his mother’s homeland. “I miss Germany when I’m in the US for a longer period of time, and vice versa,” says the young man with the reddish hair. Bartelsmeyer was born in Aschaffenburg and spent the first two years of his life in Frankfurt. “My parents wanted to stay here,” says the son. But his father, a lawyer, was to return to work in the United States. Amos grew up in St. Louis, but regularly spent his summers with his grandmother in Aschaffenburg. At home, a “mishmash” of German and English is spoken.
Bartelsmeyer had had the idea of starting for Germany for a long time. In this country, he calculated better chances of international starts than in the USA. “But I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have a relationship here,” he emphasizes. At the German indoor championships in 2019, he immediately secured second place over 3000 meters. In the same summer he became German champion in the open air over 1500 meters and made it to the semi-finals at the World Championships in Doha. Then the pandemic struck. 2023 should be with several highlights: Indoor European Championships in Istanbul, outdoor World Championships in Budapest, and the wedding with his fiancée in Portland is planned for October.
