The sporting career of the 31 year-old German can be considered quite short since I was a self-admitted ‘couch potato’ until the age of 16. At that age I spent one year as an exchange student in Norway, where I was assigned to the same grade at school as my host brother. Fortunately it was a sport grade, and so I began with typical winter sports like cross country and downhill skiing. I then became a little bit more serious in a sport called “Telemark”, which can be described as downhill skiing where just the forefoot is fixed to the ski. Back home I began with some running in order to prepare for my 18th birthday present, which was a trip to Tanzania with a Kilimanjaro “hike” as highlight! Later my girlfriend (and later wife) was swimming regularly and we did some bike tours together. In 2004 a friend of ours suggested to participate in an inaugural triathlon event nearby. We did and were hooked. I joined the local triathlon club in 2006 to learn the crawl stroke in order to improve the swim leg a little bit.

Over the years it became more and more obvious that I was talented for long distance endurance events. In 2007 I won the first marathon I ever competed in. Then I finished my first iron distance race in 2008 at the age of 23 years within 9hrs20min and placed in the top 10 overall. After getting my Master’s degree in solid state chemistry in autumn 2009, I decided to turn professional in 2010. According to this motto “In life you should not pursue goals that are easily achieved, develop an instinct for what can be only just achieved through your greatest efforts.” the goal was to prepare just for one main event in Germany in order to win that race. I achieved this goal by winning the Ostseeman Triathlon in 2010 with a new race record time of 8hrs27min. It was a fortunate coincidence that there I met Jo Spindler, a member of teamTBB and now the Head European Coach for Trisutto, who was second in that race. Jo asked me if I could imagine developing my talent to join the team. A dream came true! Brett Sutton and Jo Spindler were my coaches for the most parts of my athletic career since.

I’ve been married since 2008 and have two kids at the age of six and eight years. My family is the main source of motivation. I really understand how important it is to keep the balance between the tasks of working, training and family life. I have coached some athletes already during the past years besides racing professional. My coaching experience ranges from preparing juniors for their first triathlon to a 9:45 Ironman Rookie just recently. I have also prepared some athletes for draft legal races in the second Federal Triathlon League of Germany in the past two years. My Master degree in Chemistry helps a lot to understand the processes and adaptations which happen in the body before, during and after the workouts.