KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- The German athletics squad has chosen Kuala Lumpur as their preferred destination to prepare their top sprinters ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Relays scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China in May next year.
Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) general manager Nurhayati Karim said the German athletics squad who are looking for a country to acclimatise are expected to train here for three weeks around April.
She said during this period, MAF and the German Athletics Association (GAA) will collaborate to organise a training camp for sprinters from both countries thus providing national athletes with valuable experience.
“MAF is very happy and excited to receive our friends from GAA for us to explore all the opportunities we can have in developing sprint events, we also look forward to having the team from Germany have their training camp in Malaysia, with one of the potential venues being Stadium Merdeka.
“We also discussed several areas for joint development and collaboration, such as a training camp with our sprinters, coaching clinics, and workshops with our coaches and German coaches,” she told a press conference announcing this development here, today.
Meanwhile, GAA chairman Idriss Gonschinska said the athletes training here would include the men’s and women’s 4x100 meters (m) relay teams, the men’s and women’s 4x400m teams, and the 4x400m mixed relay team.
He said that besides the environment and training conditions, personal relations with MAF were a key factor in choosing Malaysia.
“We are coming here to prepare a kind of cooperation in preparation for the World Athletics Relays next year, and we will bring our national sprint team and the entire programme.
“Personally, for me, it’s like a journey back because some years ago I had the privilege to cooperate and coach some Malaysian athletes, like women’s 400m hurdler Noraseela Mohd Khalid and men’s 110m hurdler Mohd Robani Hassan, and it was a great experience,” he said.
The German athletics sprint team manager Julian Reus said he aims to bring Germany’s best sprinters, including men’s 100m Owen Ansah and women’s 4x100m relay runner Gina Luckenkemper to train here.
“The World Relays next year is very important for us, so our goal is to bring the best sprinters from Germany to Malaysia, including Owen Ansah, the first German sprinter in history to break the 10-second barrier, and other top sprinters. If they are fit, they will come here,” said the 36-year-old former German men’s 100m record holder.
-- BERNAMA
