With exactly three months left until the European Athletics Championships in Zurich 12-17 August, Switzerland’s Lea Sprunger is working towards the performance of a lifetime, at the most important competition of her career in front of the home fans.
And unlike previous years, she has already met the qualifying standard for the 200m event and will be able to focus on being fully ready when it matters most.
“This is a big advantage because I can plan my season to be at my best for the start of the championships,” Sprunger told lacote.ch.
The early part of the outdoor season will be used for conditioning and to gain confidence without having to necessarily worry about results.
“I will need to get used to running outdoors again because the sensations are not comparable to running indoors,
“But as we start getting closer to Zurich, I will then look to perform and face tougher opponents,” she explained.
Sprunger took part in a meeting in Fribourg on Saturday, where she ran both the 100m and 300m “to work on pure speed as well as resistance, both essential in running the 200m,” she said.
She will continue competing in Switzerland as the months go by with an important meeting in Geneva and the Swiss national championships in July as a rehearsal for Zurich.
“On a personal level my objective is to make it to the final, and then who knows, anything can happen.” Sprunger declared.
The Swiss 4x100m relay team which Sprunger is part of, along with her sister Ellen, will be one of the main attractions of the championships.
In fact the relay team will compete at the IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, 24-25 May to work on their chemistry.
“The goal is to start getting comfortable when passing the baton, and also compare ourselves to some of the world’s quickest relay teams.”