Her passion: sailing and mechanical engineering

It is blowing strongly from the west-northwest. “It's tingling…” Hannah Anderssohn would like to get away from the interview and get on her ILCA 6. But the 23-year-old top athlete is disciplined through and through. She has just returned from the training camp in France. “First I had to go to the middle pier, to my Warnemünde sailing club. If you come to the pier there will be happy hellos; How are you? Nice to have you here again! It is simply beautiful. That's what you call a feeling of home." She laughs openly and wants nothing more than for the state sports school to be finished soon, where she can also take advantage of the opportunities for training when she's not holding the sheet and in one of the world's sailing areas crosses.

As a teenager, she won medals at championships in Germany, in Europe and around the world. In 2018 it happened while falling off the windward buoy: the knee dislocated and everything that worked was broken. Regatta sailing seemed to be written in the stars. Your sponsor, the Lubinus Clinics in Kiel, made the impossible possible. “We did it together! That was my greatest success!” the athlete thinks back gratefully to this difficult time, when her parents, her sister, her friends and coaches continually encouraged her.

In 2020, she was indeed able to move up to the adult ILCA 6 class. Now that she's arrived, the medals aren't falling so easily anymore. "I've come back down to earth. I finished sixth at the 2021 European Championships. Small steps and perseverance are key." Her Dutch coach, who has been supporting her for two years, also constantly emphasizes this. "Maurice Paardenkooper taught me how to get back up after injuries and enjoy sailing. We treat each other openly, honestly, and fairly. As equals. Sometimes I have to take some harsh criticism. But I prefer that to superficial small talk." And now? "My big dream is the Olympics in a year. I want to gain some more racing experience at the ILCA Europa Cup in Warnemünde. In my home waters!" An important milestone on the road to the Olympics is the World Championship in the Netherlands in August. That's where the nation tickets for the Olympic Games will be awarded.

She also takes small steps when studying mechanical engineering at Rostock University. “I want to make the transition from competitive sports in a few years and finish my master’s degree.” And live without sailing at all? “I’m far too ambitious for that. I want to combine both passions because I also love my mechanical engineering studies! I would like to bring the fine art of being a mechanical engineer to the America's Cup. Yes, and then I would also like to enjoy my free time on the water in a dinghy without having to sail a ton.”

Mast and sheet break, Hannah!

Monika Kadner