German steeplechaser Antje Moldner-Schmidt has announced her retirement from competitive athletics at the age of 35.
Moldner-Schmidt made her final appearance in a German vest on home soil at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships but has struggled with a persistent foot injury since then.
'It is difficult to put a tick behind competitive sports if you are involved in it from an early age,' said the German, although she is looking forward to spending more time with her family. 'Video calls in the training camp do not replace time spent together,” she said.
Moldner-Schmidt won the European 3000m steeplechase title in 2014 but her silver medal (she initially won bronze but was promoted to silver after one of her rivals failed a drug test) from the 2012 European Championships was every bit as noteworthy as she was diagnosed with lymph gland cancer only two years prior to winning her first major medal.
Moldner-Schmidt set a German record of 9:18.54 in the 3000m steeplechase final at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin - a time which remained a German record for seven years before Gesa Felicitas Krause clocked 9:18.41 at the 2016 Olympics.