Ilka Semmler

Ilka Semmler
Ilka Semmler (right) with Katrin Holtwick 2015 in Münster
portrait
birthday	September 8, 1985
place of birth	Aachen, Germany
size	1.83 m
Partner	2002–2005 Flemig 2006–2016 Katrin Holtwick
society	Black and white food
German ranking list	Position 4
World ranking	Position 4
successes
2004 - U20 European Champion 2005 - Vice World Champion U21 2006 - U23 Vice European Champion 2009 - German Champion 2010 - Vice European Champion 2010 - DM third 2012 - Olympic ninth 2012 - German Champion 2012 - winner Åland Open 2013 - German Vice Champion 2014 - Winner Grand Slam Gstaad 2014 - Third place in 2015 - Fourth in 2015 - Third in German
(As of September 10, 2016)

Ilka Semmler (now Ilka Niklaus , born September 8, 1985 in Aachen ) is a German beach volleyball player . She became German champion in 2009 and 2012. In 2007 she took first place in the European ranking with Katrin Holtwick and in 2010 she became vice European champion. In 2012 she took part in the Olympic Games and in 2015 she finished fourth at the World Cup.

Career

1995 to 2006

Ilka Semmler started in 1995 when TC Kreuzau with the volleyball in the hall. In 2000 she played her first beach volleyball tournament. With Ruth Flemig , who was born in Düren , she reached third place at the U19 World Cup in Xylokastro in 2002. A year later Semmler / Flemig played their first DVV tournaments in Haltern am See and Marl and also won several tournaments. In 2004 they became U20 European champions in Koper in the final against Austrian sister Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger . In the same year Semmler and Sara Goller took part in the German championship in Timmendorfer Strand for the first time and came in 13th. In addition, Goller / Semmler finished fifth in the U21 World Cup in Porto Santo . In 2005 Kolokotronis / Semmler came ninth in the top ten in two CEV tournaments. At the EM in Moscow they were defeated in the second main round by the Dutch Kadijk / Mooren and came on the losing side in the third round, in which they were eliminated in the German duel against Banck / Kaup . They also finished ninth in the German championship. At the U21 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro they only had to admit defeat to the Brazilians Saldanha / Carol in the final.

Semmler at the Smart Beach Tour 2008 in Bonn

2006 to 2011

Since 2006 Semmler has formed a duo with Katrin Holtwick. At their first open tournament on the FIVB World Tour in Marseille, Holtwick / Semmler were still defeated in the "Country Quota" before they came into the main draw for the first time in Montreal . They finished fifth at the Challenger tournament in Cyprus and won the satellite tournament in Vaduz . Among other things, they achieved seventh place in the CEV series in Alanya . At the U23 European Championship in St. Pölten they lost the German final against Goller / Ludwig . On the national Smart Beach Tour they won the tournament in Leipzig and came third in Binz and second in Fehmarn . They finished fourth in the German championship. On the World Tour 2007 they achieved their best result right from the start with 13th place in Shanghai . They played two Challenger tournaments, finishing fifth in Eboli and winning in Cyprus. They were also successful in the CEV series with tournament victories in Moscow and Lucerne and third place in Hamburg . At the European Championships in Valencia they won after the opening defeat against Arvaniti / Karadassiou with three wins in the fourth round of the losing side before they were eliminated in the tiebreak against Schirjajewa / Urjadowa . At the end of the season, they took first place in the European ranking. At the national level they won the tournament in Erfurt and came second in Essen and Munich . Semmler missed the German championship in Timmendorfer Strand due to a foot injury.

In 2008 Holtwick / Semmler finished ninth in the Shanghai Open and the Grand Slam in Moscow. At the European Championships in Hamburg they lost in the second main round against the Schwaiger sisters and were eliminated in the third round on the losing side against the Greek Koutroumanidou / Tsiartsiani . Then they won their first medal on the World Tour with third place at the Grand Slam in Klagenfurt and shortly afterwards they reached the final of the Mysłowice , which was won by the Brazilian Salgado sisters Carolina and Maria . They also achieved some top ten results in the European series. Nationally they won the Supercup in Sankt Peter-Ording and came second in Essen and Bonn . They finished the German championship in fifth place. For the 2009 season, Holtwick / Semmler were appointed national team (A-team) by the DVV. After a seventh place in Shanghai at the start of the World Tour, they won the CEV Masters in Gran Canaria and reached the finals of the European tournaments in Baden and Berlin . At the World Cup in Stavanger they won their preliminary group, but were eliminated in the first knockout round against the Czechs Nováková / Háječková . They then finished fifth and fourth at the Grand Slams in Gstaad and Moscow, respectively, and achieved further top positions on the World Tour. At the beginning of the season there were national tournaments in Norderney and Essen, before Holtwick / Semmler became German champions for the first time in Timmendorfer Strand with a final win against Banck / Günther . At the European Championships in Sochi , they then reached the quarter-finals in second place, which they lost against the Latvians Jursone / Minusa .

On the World Tour 2010 two fifth places in Rome and Gstaad and ninth places in Moscow and Stavanger were the best results for Holtwick / Semmler. At the EM in Berlin there was a German final that Holtwick / Semmler lost to Goller / Ludwig . Nationally they won the Supercup tournaments in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg . At the German championship, the defending champions reached third place this time. They started the 2011 FIVB series with double-digit results before they reached the final of the Grand Slam in Beijing , which they lost to the US duo Walsh / May-Treanor in the tie -break . At the World Cup in Rome they were second in the group and won their first knockout game; in the round of 16 they lost to Kessy / Ross in three sets. The following Grand Slams in Stavanger and Gstaad they also finished in ninth place and in Stare Jabłonki they were fifth. At the European Championships in Kristiansand , last year's finalists reached the round of 16 as group winners, in which they had to admit defeat to the Austrians Hansel / Montagnolli . They finished fourth in the German championship.

Semmler (right) with Holtwick 2012 at the Grand Slam in Moscow

2012 to 2016

In the first tournaments of the 2012 World Tour , Holtwick / Semmler climbed up to fourth place in Beijing. At the European Championships in Scheveningen they were eliminated as group winners in the round of 16, this time against the Dutch duo Meppelink / van Gestel . Then there were ninth places at the Grand Slams in Moscow, Rome and Gstaad, before Holtwick / Semmler came fourth in Berlin. As the second best German duo in the Olympic rankings, they qualified for the Olympic Games in London . There they reached the second round in the group and after a defeat in the German duel against Goller / Ludwig they finished ninth. At the following Grand Slam in Stare Jabłonki they were third. In the final of the German championship , Banck / Walkenhorst prevailed and won the title for the second time. With a win against the Spaniards Liliana / Baquerizo , they then achieved their first tournament victory on the World Tour. At the first FIVB tournaments in 2013 , Holtwick / Semmler finished third in Fuzhou and ninth and fifth at the Grand Slams in Shanghai and Corrientes . They came in third at the Continental Cup in Campinas and the Grand Slam in The Hague . The World Cup in Stare Jabłonki was less successful for them , where they won their preliminary group but were eliminated in the first knockout round against the Dutch Keizer / van Iersel . As fifth and third in the Grand Slams in Gstaad and Long Beach , they again achieved top ten results. At the European Championships in Klagenfurt they stayed in the preliminary round as well as in the last sixteen and quarter finals without losing a set. After the semi-final defeat against Liliana / Baquerizo, there was a German duel for third place, which Holtwick / Semmler lost against Ludwig / Walkenhorst. Then they had to admit defeat to the Brazilians Taiana / Talita in the final of the Grand Slam in Berlin . In the final of the German championship there was also a duel against Ludwig / Walkenhorst and Holtwick / Semmler lost again. The new runners-up in São Paulo and Xiamen finished the last two international tournaments in fifth and fourth place.

At the beginning of the World Tour 2014 they reached the final of the Prague Open after a 17th place in Shanghai , which they lost to Kolocová / Sluková . At the European Championships in Quartu Sant'Elena they reached the second round in second place and were defeated there by Meppelink / van Iersel . They then retired early in two Grand Slams and finished ninth in Stavanger . Two weeks later, they prevailed against their German rivals Borger / Büthe in the Gstaad final and won their first Grand Slam. They were also in the final in The Hague , but lost to Taiana / Fernanda . After a fifth place in Long Beach and a ninth place in Klagenfurt, they were third in Stare Jabłonki. In the German championship they lost the semi-finals against Borger / Büthe, but secured third place with a win against Bieneck / Großner . In the 2015 season, Holtwick / Semmler came in ninth four times in the FIVB series after winning the Supercup in Münster . At the World Cup in the Netherlands , they made it to the semi-finals without losing a set. Then they lost to the Brazilian duos Lima / Fernanda and Antonelli / Juliana , so that in the end they finished fourth. After two weaker FIVB tournaments, they reached the second round of the European Championship in Klagenfurt in second place, in which they had to admit defeat in the German duel against Laboreur / Sude . At the next Grand Slams they were fifth in Long Beach and ninth in Olsztyn . At the German championship they lost the semi-finals in the tie-break against Mersmann / Schneider and finished third with a win against Laboreur / Sude. Internationally, they achieved fourth place in Xiamen.

At the World Tour , Holtwick / Semmler achieved further top ten results. They finished fifth in Maceió and Xiamen and third in Vitória . After finishing ninth in Fuzhou, they came third in Sochi and Antalya and fifth in Cincinnati . At the European Championships in Biel / Bienne , they came second in the group to the round of 16 and then lost the quarter-finals against Borger / Büthe. In the Hamburg Major they were eliminated in the first knockout round and thus finally missed the qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio due to the restriction to two teams per nation . In the further course of the season they were each ninth in the Grand Slam in Olsztyn and the Poreč Major and fifth in Gstaad. After failing to meet the “Country Quota” in Klagenfurt, they finished fourth in Long Beach. In the German championship they lost their opening game against Behlen / Krebs and after their defeat in the third losing round against Gernert / Zautys they came in seventh. As announced before the tournament, they ended their careers afterwards.

Private

Semmler grew up with her family in Kreuzau . After graduating from high school in 2005, she moved to Berlin and studied rehab education there. Together with her partner Katrin Holtwick, she was photographed naked by Andreas H. Bitesnich for the magazine Fit for Fun in 2007 . The nudes caused a sensation outside of the beach volleyball scene and an invitation to TV total . Semmler later took part in TV total high diving several times and won the 2010 competition with Miriam Höller .

Web links

Commons : Ilka Semmler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website Holtwick / Semmler
• National duo Holtwick / Semmler at DVV ( Memento from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• Beach profile at DVV
• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Ilka Semmler in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German ranking list (as of September 5, 2016)
2. ↑ FIVB world rankings (as of September 5, 2016)
3. ↑ Beach volleyball player Ilka Semmler from Kreuzau starts at the Olympics. Aachener Zeitung , July 25, 2012, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
4. ^ Website Holtwick / Semmler
5. ↑ DVV, Successes Holtwick / Semmler ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ German Championship 2007 - The preliminary report. beach-volleyball.de, August 30, 2007, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
7. ↑ National duo Holtwick / Semmler at DVV ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Olympia-Aus for Holtwick / Semmler. beach-volleyball.de, June 10, 2016, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
9. ^ Smart beach tour: Holtwick / Semmler: With sadness to the last DM in Timmendorfer Strand. volleyballer.de, September 7, 2016, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Beach DM: Emotional farewell to Holtwick / Semmler. DVV, September 9, 2016, accessed on September 10, 2016 . 
11. ↑ The most beautiful beaches in the world are her new home. (PDF) Aachener Zeitung, May 29, 2010, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
12. ↑ Beach queens up close. Fit for Fun , accessed September 8, 2016 . 
13. ^ Gallery on the Holtwick / Semmler website
14. ↑ Beach: Ilka Semmler wins the big TV total diving. (No longer available online.) Beach-volleyball.de, November 29, 2010, archived from the original on September 15, 2016 ; accessed on September 8, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.