Laura Ludwig-Bowes (born 13 January 1986) is a German professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player, playing as a defender. Previously forming a pair with compatriot

Kira Walkenhorst Kira Katharina Walkenhorst (born 18 November 1990) is a retired German beach volleyball player who played as a blocker. She has an older brother Alexander Walkenhorst who is a professional beach volleyball player and a younger sister Pia Walken ...

, she represents

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

and has won four European championships. She won the gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. She added another medal, Gold, at the 2016 World Tour Finals in Toronto. In 2017, she and Walkenhorst won the World Championship in Vienna.

Biography

Ludwig was born in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. Initially paired with Jana Köhler, Ludwig won the U18 European Championship and later the U18 World Championship in Pattava Beach (Thailand).Sara Goller/Laura Ludwig
, www.dvv.de After surviving a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

which nearly ended her career, she bounced back after teaming with a new partner, Sara Goller. Together, Ludwig and Goller became 2006

German champions The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest Football in Germany, association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country thr ...

, won the U23 European Championships in

St. Pölten ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

and ended up fourth in the women's European Championships the same year in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. They continued their line of success in 2007, defending the German title and winning the silver medal in the European Championships in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Ludwig and Goller ended the 2007 season leading the German women's ranking and placing seventh overall. She won silver medals at the 2007 and 2009 European beach volleyball championships, and gold medals at the 2008 and 2010 Beach ECH, alongside her former teammate

Sara Goller Sara Goller is a former professional German beach volleyball player. Initially paired with Frederike Romberg, Goller won the U20 European Championships in Salzburg 2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, finishing in ninth place in 2008 and reaching the quarterfinals in 2012. In 2013 Ludwig formed a beach partnership with

. The pairing was successful, with bronze medal finishes at the 2013 and 2014 European beach volleyball championship, and gold medals at the 2015 and 2016 Beach ECH. Ludwig and Walkenhorst won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, defeating

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's pair of Ágatha and Bárbara in straight sets of 21-18 21–14 in the final.

World tour 2016

Laura competed in the World Tour Finals in Toronto. With teammate Kira they finished 3rd (Last) in Pool-B with 2 losses. In the quarter-final match against

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

and

Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places * Fort Walsh, one of the first posts of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police * Walsh, Ontario, Norfolk ...

they won in 3 sets of (21-18, 19–21, 15-11), advancing to the semi-final against

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

and Talita of Brazil. Winning against Brazil in straight sets of (21-19, 21-19) the pair advance to the gold medal match. Another Gold medal for the Olympic winners in straight sets of (21-18, 21-16) against the Swiss pair of Zumkehr and Heidrich

2017 season

Laura Ludwig did not compete at the opening round of the 2017 season in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

due to a shoulder operation. Ludwig's regular partner

temporarily partnered Julia Großner. Laura's first tournament of the 2017 season after her shoulder operation was the Smart Super Cup in Münster. Alongside regular partner Kira they secured the gold medal with a 2:0 scoreline ahead of runners up Laboureur & Sude. Ludwig's first international tournament in 2017 was the FIVB World Tour tournament in Rio de Janeiro. After beating Lusson/Jupiter and Juliana/Carol in Pool play and Davidova/Shchypkova in their third match they lost to Pavan/Humana-Paredes to finish the tournament in 5th position.

2021 Season

In July, Ludwig partnered

Margareta Kozuch Margareta "Maggie" Kozuch ( pl, Małgorzata Kożuch; born 30 October 1986) is a German female volleyball player who played for Atom Trefl Sopot, and previously played as a wing-spiker for TuS Berne Hamburg, CVMJ Hamburg, TV Fischbek (who chang ...

to represent Germany at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo that had been delayed due to the worldwide

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The pair reached the quarter finals losing to the Americans

April Ross April Elizabeth Ross (born June 20, 1982) is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh ...

and

Alix Klineman Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman (born December 30, 1989) is an American beach volleyball, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player. In high school she was the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year. She was a fou ...

References

External links