Shophie Kraul may only be 1.60 m tall, but she is full of energy and ambition. Double European Junior champion in 2003 in the long jump and 100m Hurdles, Kraul is concentrating in the long jump event in Grosseto.
For this big goal the 19 year old athlete from Jena gave up her big dream, to participate as a junior in the Olympics in Athens.
"I will concentrate on my competition in Grosseto," Sophie Krauel says. She is travelling to Italy as number four in the world junior list (6.59m), behind the Cuban Yudelkis Fernandez (6.74 m), Inna Kazanchewa from Russia (6.68 m) and Tianna Madison (USA) who jumped 6.60m.
Because of a recurrent injury in her take off leg, the young blonde girl has given up her Olympic ambitions – this year – and decided to save her energy for Grosseto.
"I couldn’t train as much as I wanted for a long time, this was the reason why I competed only three times in the long jump," Sophie Kraul explained.
Instead of taking part in the German Junior Championships Kraul preferred to jump in the Meeting in Bad Langensalsa, to try and qualify for Athens. But she soon realized that competing in both competitions would be too hard a task and opted for Grosseto.
The double European Junior champion from last year was the only one at this age who participated at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest in March this year for the Germans.
"It was great to see stars like Christian Olsson, Fiona May or Carolina Klüft and I collected a lot of experience," Sophie Krauel remembered.
She learned a lot in Budapest. "I was very nervous, but it was the first time, I jumped at a big event, next time it will be better already," she promised.
But she and her coach Stefan Poser from Jena decided to be careful and Grosseto will be the last competition for the young lady this year. After the World Junior Championships, she will have an operation on her leg.
"I couldn’t do a lot of jumping because, when I trained for the long jump, most of the time I was in pain."
Unfortunately she wasn’t able to compete at all in the hurdles this year. “I think I have better chances in the long jump, but I miss the hurdles a lot," the gold medal winner of Tampere last year said.
But nevertheless she is in a good shape. And her goal is a medal. The chances are not bad for Sophie Krauel who finished school with a very good result in the exams.
Since her victory at the Senior German Championships, Kraul has received a lot of attention from newspapers and television alike.
"It was a very exciting time," Sophie Krauel says. Meanwhile she already is used to the wishes for the interviews of the media people. And she is thinking about her future. Originally the girl form Jena planned to study law.
"But this is a very tiring and I don’t know if I could combine the sport and the study." And Sophie Krauel wants to come on top in the long jump.
"But I don’t want to be 25 years old and having nothing beside the sport."
She started her career in athletics twelve years ago, when she was seven years old. Since that time she works together with her coach, who wanted to build up her very careful.
"I did such a lot for the sport and I cut out a lot for the success and I have a lot of fun, so I would never give up.”
In Grosseto she will show how strong she can fight for a place on the medal table. "Two years ago in Jamaica I was fourth, now I want to be on the podium!"
And the people who know her quite well know that she can’t wait until she will jump!
Ursula Kaiser for the IAAF
