There is no doubt about Gesa Felicitas Krause’s aim for next year. The reigning European Athletics under-23 3000m steeplechase champion is determined to perform well at the upcoming European Athletics championships in Zurich.
“I want to be right up there. It is pretty clear from the last European championships in Helsinki that I have a good chance of doing well,” she told Leichtathletik.de.
In the Finnish capital, she finished just outside the medals in fourth at just 19 years of age.
In the subsequent London Olympics she improved her career best and set a German under-23 record 9:23.52 in the final.
This year she waltzed away with the European under-23 title in Tampere by over 10 seconds in a withering display of front running.
Krause’s assault on Europe is not confined to Zurich alone.
She is also targeting the European Athletics Team championships which next year are being held on home soil in Braunschweig, Germany.
“Training for the new season has already begun,” she explains.
“At the moment I am in the high performance centre in Kienbaum concentrating on base and strength training.”
It is training that will incorporate cross country since the Eintracht Frankfurt athlete has also pencilled in a trip to Belgrade for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December.
Two years ago in Velenje, Slovenia, she finished ninth as a junior, but with two extra years of work under her belt, Krause will go to Serbia with high hopes.
On top of everything else she is also planning to compete indoors, but will save her best for Zurich.
Earlier this month she was awarded a special ‘German hope for the future’ prize and a €5000 check to go with it, at the Sportpresseball in Frankfurt.
Though delighted with the prize, this past season has been mixed for Krause.
“Despite the under-23 title and my ninth place in the Moscow World Championships, I am not entirely satisfied with my season, she stated.
“I would have preferred to run close to my personal best, because I know I can do better.”
In fact, her season’s best, which came in Moscow, was 13 seconds slower than her personal best.
“I had been injured at the end of the season and I just did not have enough mileage in my legs,” she revealed.
“I also had to mentally and physically put the Olympics behind me. Above all, I had to learn to establish my priorities.”
Krause is coached by Wolfgang Heinig, coach and husband to the 1988 Olympic bronze medallist and highly successful marathon runner Kathrin Dörre-Heinig.
“There are no half measures with Wolfgang Heinig,” said Krause.
“He demands a lot from me and I trust him 100 percent. I am lucky to have him as my coach,” she added.
Heinig will certainly be preparing Krause to peak during the European Ahtletics Championships in Zurich, her main objective for 2014.