When Cindy Roleder stormed through the line in 12.62 in Amsterdam this summer, she became the first German woman to win the European 100m hurdles title for 38 years. In Belgrade in March, she will be chasing another landmark.
Roleder has been talking about her plans for the winter season, where in Serbia she will be looking to make it a European double gold at the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships and if she achieves it, she will repeat the feat of East German Johanna Klier who won both titles in 1978.
At 27, Roleder is at the peak of her powers and will be determined to carry on the 60m hurdles form that she produced last winter.
In February, Roleder broke her indoor personal best with 7.88 in Leipzig, the best time by a European all year and a performance which carried her onto her brilliant summer.
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Running out of lane seven in Amsterdam, she timed her race to perfection at the European Athletics Championships as she powered through with a barrier left, taking the lead as she cleared the hurdle to beat Belarusian Alina Talay (12.68) and Great Britain’s defending champion Tiffany Porter (12.76).
It meant a double European leading time for Roleder, as this outdoor mark lasted all summer just as the winter one had, in a year where she was then fifth at the Olympics in Rio (12.74).
'I am currently training hard and have a lot of sore muscles,' she told Leichtathletik this week.
Ironically, when Klier won both European events in 1978, her outdoor time in Prague was also 12.62 while her indoor gold in Milan arrived in 7.94.
Talay held both the titles at the same time in 2012 (outdoors) and 2013 (indoors) while by the the time of Belgrade, Sweden’s Susanna Kallur will be 36 but could also pose a threat after returning to the big time this summer after her injury nightmare.
The Swede won the European indoors in 2005 and 2007 and the European outdoors at home in Gothenburg 2006.