The recent appearances at the Swiss Indoor Championships in St. Gallen may be symbolic for the year 2024. The 24-year-old from Appenzeller climbs onto the podium three times after three starts. The gold in the long jump, the silver in the hurdles and the bronze in the pole vault not only show the all-rounder qualities of the all-rounder. Behind the medals are achievements that make you sit up and take notice.
Ehammer refined his victory in the long jump with an 8 m flight. In the final of the 60 m hurdles, he challenged European champion Jason Joseph to the finish line and improved his personal best by over a tenth in 7.55 seconds. And the 5.20 m in the pole vault is a value that every all-around athlete in the world would like to achieve.
“I want a medal in Glasgow, preferably gold,” says Ehammer. In principle, this is how he formulates the minimum goal. Because if he manages the seven disciplines properly on Saturday and Sunday, Ken Mullings from the Bahamas, the Norwegian Sander Skotheim or the French Makenson Gletty would have to surpass themselves to intercept the Swiss.
Karl Wyler, one of Ehammer’s trainers and his constant travel companion at competitions, commented on the level of his protégé in the stands in St. Gallen with the words: “We are starting the season without a mortgage.” The coach once again refers to the shoulder operation last fall. The procedure was necessary because conservative treatment of the inflamed tendon did not produce the desired result.
Thoughts about the shoulder are forgotten
The training was never completely interrupted, but Ehammer was only able to really put his foot down after Christmas. “Now Simon no longer has to be considerate. He has cleared the air and can train without any symptoms,” said Wyler. And the athlete himself also confirms: “I don’t waste any more thought on the shoulder.”
In Glasgow, Ehammer competes as an all-around athlete. Unless he completely misses a discipline or even eliminates it, the Swiss record is likely to fall. Because the Appenzeller has a higher level than two years ago, when he won World Cup silver in Belgrade with 6,363 points. Maybe there is even a value around 6500 points. Then the Frenchman Kevin Mayer would lose the European record (6479) from 2017. “But a lot has to fit together,” says Ehammer.
The 24-year-old has already achieved three medals in one year. In 2022 he won silver in the heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships, took bronze in the long jump specialists at the World Championships in Eugene and rounded off the summer with silver at the European Championships in the decathlon in Munich.
Four years of preparation
This is also possible in 2024: at least at the beginning, the hurdle is even lower than it was two years ago. Ehammer’s best score of 6363 points has never been achieved by Glasgow’s competitors in their careers. It doesn’t make sense to speculate about the opposition in the summer. But it is clear that a healthy Ehammer is one of the medal candidates as a long jumper at the European Championships in Rome. And in theory there are even two medals at the Olympic Games, as the specialist long jump is scheduled after the decathlon.
“I’m now facing half a year, which I’ve been working towards since 2020, when I had my breakthrough. At the age of 24, I can not only fulfill my dream of taking part in the Olympics, but can even compete with high ambitions,” Ehammer looks ahead.
2024-02-29 16:18:48
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