Aika Klein

Aika Klein
nation	Germany
birthday	November 26, 1982
place of birth	Rostock
size	169 cm
Weight	63 kg
job	Graduate in business administration
Career
society	ESV turbine Rostock
Trainer	Éric Bédard
status	resigned
Medal table
EM medals 1 × 1 × 4 ×
European Short Track Championships bronze Zoetermeer 2004 3000 m bronze Zoetermeer 2004 Season bronze Turin 2005 Season bronze Ventspils 2008 Season silver Turin 2009 Season gold Dresden 2010 Season
Placements in the Short Track World Cup
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Relay / team 0 2 1
last change: November 11, 2011

Aika Klein (born November 26, 1982 in Rostock ) is a former German short tracker . She won several medals at European championships and took part in three Olympic Games .

Klein was on the ice for the first time at the age of twelve and started her career at ESV Turbine Rostock . With admission to the short track national team, however, she moved to Dresden and trained there under Éric Bédard. In 2002, she took part in the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and was eighth and last with the season. She reached third place in the 2002/03 season with the relay and thus her first podium finish. At the European Championships in Saint Petersburg in 2005 , she was able to put herself in the limelight for the first time at an international championship and achieve fifth place with the relay. She celebrated her first success a year later at the European Championships in Zoetermeer , where she won bronze with the relay. In the 3000 m she was also third and fourth in the all-around competition. In the 2004/05 season she achieved a second place in the World Cup with the relay, was able to repeat winning the bronze medal with the relay at the European Championships in Turin , in the all-around she was seventh, and reached fifth place at the World Championships in Beijing with the relay and thus her best result at world championships . In the following season 2005/06 she reached with the relay again a second place in a World Cup race. She qualified for the Olympic Games in Turin, with the relay she reached sixth place, in the individual races over 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m, she was eliminated in the preliminary fight.

Further success initially failed to materialize until she won silver with the relay at the 2009 European Championships in Turin. A career highlight was winning the gold medal with the relay at the European Home Championships in Dresden the following year. As the reigning European champion, the German relay missed participation in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver after a controversial disqualification in the first of the two Olympic qualifying races . Klein started as the only German short tracker in Vancouver. Over 500 m and 1500 m she was eliminated in the preliminary run, over 1000 m in the quarter-finals.

At German championships between 2003 and 2009, Klein achieved three silver and two bronze medals in all-around competitions and also celebrated five victories in individual distance races.

Klein ended her active career after the 2009/10 season , but started a comeback attempt a year later. However, after she did not find sufficient financial support for her project through sponsors or an Olympic base, she finally ended her career in mid-2011. Klein holds a degree in economics from the Fernuniversität Hagen . She is in a relationship with Sebastian Praus , also a successful short tracker who ended his career in 2010.

Web links

• Aika Klein in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Results overview ( Memento from February 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The hall will shake. Retrieved November 11, 2011 . 
2. ↑ Aika Klein: Unfortunately, the dream of Sochi is over. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012 ; Retrieved November 11, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Olympic participant in the short track and student of economics. Archived from the original on October 31, 2011 ; Retrieved November 11, 2011 .