At the age of six, Elisa Eich began athletics at TV/DJK Hammelburg. Already in the U16, under coach Heiko Schmitt, there were first successes at state level, including winning the relay over 4 x 100 meters. But standing at the top of the podium at the Bavarian Championships was not granted to her. Until recently in Erding, where it succeeded three times. It wasn’t the only success.
In the entry list, Elisa Eich was only fourth on her two parade distances, the 400 meters with and without hurdles, at the Bavarian Championships. The popular lanes three, four and five were occupied by the previously better athletes. The remaining of the six lanes will be raffled and so it happened that Eich had to set the starting block over 400 meters on the absolutely unpopular outside lane. “I was a bit shocked at first.
You have no orientation due to the curve specification, you just run ahead into the unknown and are usually either too fast or too slow,” explained the 19-year-old.
This time she chose the very fast version of the initial tempo and put a lot of pressure on the favorite sprinters behind her. Lisa Lankes from SWC Regensburg was still level with TV/DJKlerin at the beginning of the finish curve. Two other runners joined them in the final 80 meters in a battle for victory.
The breath of the opponents
None of the four could now take a clean step. The lactate caused by the high initial pace was too much in their muscles. In this phase, Elisa Eich had a visibly irrepressible will to win and gave everything.
At the finish she was clearly ahead. In an excellent 56.91 seconds, she undercut her personal best by around one and a half seconds and won her first Bavarian title.
“The worst thing about this race wasn’t the strenuous home straight, but the last corner. You run ahead through the curve specification, you don’t see anyone, but you hear the footsteps and the loud breathing of the other girls getting closer. You have the feeling that you’re about to swallowed up,” is how Eich describes the decisive phase of the race, in which enormous mental strength is required on the flanks.
The Fuchsstadt resident explains why she also started the shot put after this feat on the first day by saying that coach Paul Fella said “that the afternoon just had to be filled”. You wouldn’t think that she and her teammate Hanna Schmitt would be able to throw the four-kilogram ball particularly far because of their slim figure. But both athletes have good shot technique and leg strength.
There was a lack of heavyweight specialists in Erding, so both could hope for a medal right from the start. In Lower Franconia, the women from Saalestadt have been the measure of all things in this discipline for years, even if Eich does not describe herself as a shot put specialist.
In the end she had set a new house record with 10.72 meters, which was even enough for gold. Hanna Schmitt came to 10.16 meters: bronze.
On the second day, the time finishes over the 400 meter hurdles were already in the early morning. Ten hurdles, around 76 centimeters high and spaced 35 meters apart, were provided on the blue track.
Elisa started on lane five, the supposedly faster runners behind her on lanes three and four. So the motto applied again: escape to the front. “I started with long strides so fast that I already undercut my usual rhythm of 17 steps at the second hurdle. That runs through the entire first half of the race,” reported the athlete.
“But, in contrast to many other runners, she can run over the hurdles fairly well with both legs,” says trainer Angelika Franz-Fella. Therefore, as a viewer of the race, one did not notice much of their difficulties at the beginning of the race.
Together with favorite Janna Popp from LAC Quelle Fürth, Eich then turned in the direction of the home straight. “I showed real courage today and really attacked the last three hurdles despite being tired,” she says, proud of herself. The decision was only made at the last hurdle, where the 19-year-old ran out the decisive lead. With a time of 1:02.13 minutes, she also improved her personal best time by one and a half seconds over this distance.
So that the second day was also well “filled out”, she started over the 200 meters, even made it into the final and finished fourth in a good 25.95 seconds.
“I don’t even know what to say about all the current successes. At the moment I’m just floating on cloud nine,” says Eich, describing her feelings.
The coaching couple Angelika Franz-Fella and Paul Fella, with whom she has been training for around four years, were also overjoyed that their protégé put the icing on the cake in his career. “Three times gold in a single state championship, as far as I know nobody in the Rhön/Saale athletics district has managed that before,” believes Paul Fella.
Eich’s successes certainly include the dream grade of 1.0, with which she recently passed her Abitur. “The numerous competitions I’ve competed in so far have also helped me with difficult exams and exams at school. You’re just as nervous there as before an important competition. But through sport I’ve learned to deal with it.”
Elisa Eich will certainly be a bit nervous again on July 16th when she starts at the German Championships in Ulm. She decided there to start over the 400 meter hurdles. “I think if everything goes perfectly there, I can even be a little faster.”
Competition from the sports schools
In order to reach the final in Ulm, everything has to fit. The 400 meter hurdles are extremely well occupied by the young women of the U20 in Germany. Elisa Eich trains four to five times a week. The competition from the sports schools easily more than doubles the number of units.
During the study period, the cards will certainly be reshuffled in the years to come. Elisa Eich later aims to study medicine. Before that, she is drawn into the world. “I want to travel to foreign countries for a year and get to know other cultures.” She then stops competing. She wants to continue training intensively. If the general conditions in her studies are right, she wants to start competing again.
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