3000 m steeplechase women podium Helsinki 2012

Antje Möldner-Schmidt (born 13 June 1984) is a retired German

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specialised in

middle distance running Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 15 ...

and the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, a ...

Biography

Born in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, she began training in athletics with her twin, Berit, but her sister quit the sport as a result of an injury. Möldner began her career as a

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

runner and first competed internationally at the 2001 World Youth Championships and 2002 World Junior Championships. She broke into the European professional ranks in 2005: a personal best of 4:10.83 brought her sixth place at the

2005 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2005 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid, the capital city of Spain, from Friday, 4 March to Sunday, 6 March 2005. This was the first edition to be held in an odd year since switching to the b ...

. She improved further outdoors, recording 4:08.81 in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

, a time which made her the top ranked 1500 m German athlete that year. She also won the German national championships, both indoor and outdoors, and took the bronze at the

2005 European Athletics U23 Championships The 5th European Athletics U23 Championships were held in Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part o ...

. The highlights of the following two seasons were a 1500 m indoor national title, two sixth-place finishes in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and 2007 European Cup, and an outdoor national title in 2007. Both years, she was the top ranked German athlete in her event. Möldner decided upon a change of event in 2008, choosing to test her abilities in the 3000 m steeplechase. She won the German outdoor championships and achieved the Olympic qualifying time. She went on to represent

Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics Germany competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, People's Republic of China. A total of 439 athletes were nominated to participate in the Games. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (german: Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, ''DOS ...

and, although she did not pass the heats stage, her time of 9:29.86 was a German record.Athletenportrait – Antje Möldner
. Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband. Retrieved on 16 October 2009. A month after, she won the bronze medal in the event at the 2008 DecaNation competition. The following year, her switch to the steeplechase began to produce results. She won her first continental gold medal at the

2009 European Team Championships The first European Athletics Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008. The Ch ...

with a time of 9:32.65. A win at the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

meant she was selected for the German squad for the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. She reached the 3000 m steeplechase final, taking ninth place with 9:18.54 – improving her national record by a large margin. She was ruled out for the whole of the 2010 season after tests revealed that she had a lymphoid cell disorder. She had to undergo treatments and was removed from competing on her doctors' orders. She took part at the European Championship in Helsinki, and finished 7th in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in 2012. By 2014, she won the European Championship

Personal bests

* All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

*
DLV profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moldner-Schmidt, Antje 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Potsdam German female steeplechase runners German female middle-distance runners German national athletics champions Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany European Athletics Championships medalists