Laura Ludwig

Laura Ludwig
Laura Ludwig 2013 in Münster
portrait
birthday	January 13, 1986
place of birth	East Berlin, GDR
size	1.81 m
Partner	until 2003 Jana Köhler 2004–2012 Sara Goller 2013–2017 Kira Walkenhorst 2014 Julia Sude since 2019 Margareta Kozuch
society	2005–2013 Hertha BSC since 2013 Hamburger SV
German ranking list	position 1
World ranking	Position 15
successes
2003 - World Champion U18 2003 - European Champion U18 2004 - European Champion U23 2005 - Vice European Champion U23 2005 - DM Third 2006 - European Champion U23 2006 - German Champion 2007 - Vice European Champion 2007 - German Champion 2008 - European Champion 2008 - Olympic ninth 2008 - German Champion 2009 - Vice European Champion 2009 - Third German Championship in 2009 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2010 - European Champion 2010 - German Vice Champion 2010 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2011 - European Championship third 2011 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2011 - German Champion 2012 - Olympic fifth 2012 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2013 - European Championship third 2013 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2013 - German champion 2014 - Winner Grand Slam Shanghai 2014 - European Championship third 2014 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2014 - Second Grand Slam Stare Jabłonki 2014 - German vice champion 2015 - Winner Grand Slam Yokohama 2015 - European champion 2015 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2015 - German champion 2015 - 2nd place Worl d Tour Final Fort Lauderdale 2015 - Winner Puerto Vallarta Open 2016 - Winner Antalya Open 2016 - European Champion 2016 - Winner Hamburg Major 2016 - Winner Grand Slam Olsztyn 2016 - Winner Klagenfurt Major 2016 - Olympic Champion 2016 - Beach Volleyball Player of the Year 2016 - German Champion 2016 - Winner World Tour Final Toronto 2016 - Team of the Year (with Kira Walkenhorst) 2017 - World Champion 2017 - Winner World Tour Final Hamburg 2017 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2017 - Team of the year (with Kira Walkenhorst) 2019 - Beach volleyball player of the year 2019 - German runner-up 2019 - Winner World Tour Final Rome
(As of September 9, 2019)

Laura Ludwig (born January 13, 1986 in Köpenick , East Berlin ) is a German beach volleyball player . With Kira Walkenhorst she became Olympic champion in 2016 and world champion in 2017 . In addition, she has been four times European champion and seven times German champion . In 2016 and 2017, she and Walkenhorst were voted Team of the Year and a total of ten German beach volleyball player of the year .

Career hall

Ludwig began in 1994 when Köpenicker SC with the volleyball in the hall. The readers of the specialist magazine Volleyball-Magazin voted Ludwig as the newcomer of the year in the 2003/04 season. In the 2004/05 season she was in all three finals (German championship, German cup and European cup) with Bayer Leverkusen and her long-time beach partner Sara Goller . In 2009 and 2010 she helped out in the second division for a few games at VfL Oythe .

Austrian Masters 2008

Career Beach

1999 to 2008

Ludwig has been active as a beach volleyball player since 1999. First she played with Jana Köhler . The duo became world and European champions in the U18 age group in 2003. On May 15, 2004, she founded a new duo with Sara Goller, which was marketed under the name gollerplusludwig and had belonged to Hertha BSC since November 1, 2005 . The players trained by Olaf Kortmann celebrated their first mutual success with third place at the U23 European Championship 2004 in Brno . The first participation in the "big" European championship in Timmendorfer Strand ended with rank 25. In August 2004 Ludwig's career was in danger because she suffered a stroke during training . At the next European Junior Championships in 2005 in Mysłowice , Goller / Ludwig won silver. In the same year, the women who had been promoted to the national duo came third in the German championship and took part in a world championship in Berlin for the first time, finishing in 17th place.

In 2006 they finally established themselves in the German elite. They won the U23 European Championship in St. Pölten , took part in the World Tour, where they finished fifth in Acapulco , and came fourth at the European Championship in The Hague . In the final against Rieke Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurich , they won the German championship. In the following year they continued their ascent. At the World Championships in Gstaad it was only enough for 17th place, but at the European Championships in Valencia they reached the final. In addition, they won the silver medal in Espinho and the bronze medal in Klagenfurt at the FIVB World Tour tournaments , achieved fourth place in Stavanger and fifth place in Marseille . In 2007 Laura Ludwig was named “Most Improved Player of the Year” by the FIVB . This year Goller / Ludwig defended their national title in the final against Helke Claasen and Antje Röder . The two Hamburg women by choice achieved the greatest success of their careers to date when they won the European Championship in 2008 in their current place of residence. Shortly before, they had already secured qualification for the Olympic Games in Beijing . There they were eliminated in the second round after a three-set defeat against the Austrians Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger . At the German championship in 2008 they won the national title for the third time in a row.

2009 to 2012

2009 was the year of third places for Laura Ludwig and Sara Goller. There were bronze medals at the FIVB tournaments in Brasília , Moscow and Marseille as well as at the German championship in the Ahmann-Hager-Arena . In addition, there was a fourth place in Shanghai and three fifth places at FIVB tournaments . At the European Championship , Goller and Ludwig won the silver medal. This year Laura Ludwig replaced her partner as beach volleyball player of the year .

The two Hertha BSC athletes started the year successfully . At the Brasília Open they first defeated the Olympic champion Misty May-Treanor with her new partner Nicole Branagh and then the Brazilian duo Larissa / Juliana . In the final, however, Ludwig / Goller had to admit defeat to the two Brazilians, as they did at the tournament in Portugal in 2007 and thus postpone their first victory at the FIVB Tour. While they finished 25th in Shanghai , they again reached the final in Rome , but this time failed because of the then world champions April Ross and Jennifer Kessy . Also at the following tournaments in Seoul and Moscow , Goller / Ludwig were defeated by the two Americans and each took fifth place. In Gstaad they reached the final for the third time this season, but for the third time there was a defeat, this time as in Brasilia against the top seeded Brazilians Larissa and Juliana. After a fifth place in Marseille , Ludwig / Goller achieved a medal rank in Klagenfurt for the fourth time in 2010. In the game for third place, they defeated the Austrians Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli , on whom they had failed in Marseille in the fight for the semi-finals. After a ninth place at the FIVB tournament in Poland , they won their second European championship . In the final they defeated their compatriots Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler . Laura Ludwig was then voted beach volleyball player of the year for the second time in a row . At the following FIVB tournament in Sanya , she reached the final with her partner after victories over Kessy / Ross as well as the Olympic and world champions Kerri Walsh and Nicole Branagh, which they lost against the Chinese Xue and Zhang Xi. At the last tournament of the year in Thailand , the Hamburg women finished fifth after three wins and two defeats.

Grand Slam in Moscow 2012

Goller / Ludwig won the bronze medal at the 2011 European Beach Volleyball Championships in Kristiansand . After that, Laura Ludwig was voted beach volleyball player of the year for the third time in a row . At the German championship she won the national title for the fourth time with Sara Goller. The two Germans were not quite as successful at the FIVB World Tour as last year. In addition to a silver medal in Stavanger , they achieved four other placements among the top eight teams. Ludwig / Goller took fourth place at the Myslowice Open , fourth in Brasilia and Moscow and seventh in Åland . At the World Cup in Rome , they lost in the round of 16 against May-Treanor / Walsh. At the end of the beach tour, Laura Ludwig was named “Best Offensive Player” of the year.

Goller / Ludwig achieved fifth places in the World Tour in Brasilia and Beijing and ninth places in Shanghai , Moscow , Gstaad , Berlin and Klagenfurt . In Rome they were only stopped in the final by the Swiss Kuhn / Zumkehr . At the European Championships in Scheveningen , they finished ninth. Then they won the national tournament of the Smart Beach Tour on Norderney . At the Olympic Games in London they reached second place in the group stage and thus qualified for the round of 16. There they met the second German duo Holtwick / Semmler , which they defeated 2-0. However, they were defeated by the Brazilian team Larissa / Juliana 2-0 in the quarter-finals and thus finished fifth. Laura Ludwig was then voted beach volleyball player of the year for the fourth time in a row . At the German championship Goller / Ludwig retired early after two defeats and finished the tournament in seventh place. In September 2012, Goller resigned.

2013 to 2016

Laura Ludwig has played with Kira Walkenhorst for Hamburger SV since 2013 . In the first tournament of 2013, the CEV Satellite in Antalya , Ludwig / Walkenhorst reached the final, which they lost 2-0 to the Dutch van Gestel / Meppelink . After being unable to play the first tournament of the world tour in Fuzhou due to an injury to Walkenhorst , they came fifth in Shanghai . In The Hague , they came in ninth place. At the World Cup in Stare Jabłonki , Ludwig / Walkenhorst reached the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated against the Chinese team Xue / Zhang Xi and finished fifth. At the European Championships in Klagenfurt , they achieved third place. Towards the end of the season, Ludwig / Walkenhorst took second place each at the Grand Slams in Moscow and São Paulo . On the German Smart Beach Tour they achieved third places in Norderney , Hamburg and Münster . In August, Ludwig was voted Germany's beach volleyball player of the year for the fifth time in a row and finally became German champion with Walkenhorst .

At the start of the season in Fuzhou , Ludwig / Walkenhorst achieved ninth place. In the first Grand Slam of the season in Shanghai , the team was successful in the final against the Chinese Wang / Yue Y. and thus achieved the first victory of a German team in a Grand Slam. At the European Championships in Quartu Sant'Elena , Ludwig / Walkenhorst again won the bronze medal. Since Walkenhorst contracted Pfeiffer's glandular fever , Ludwig's partner had to end the season early in July. Ludwig played the other tournaments of the year with Julia Sude , with whom she was second in the Grand Slam in Stare Jabłonki . In August Ludwig was voted beach volleyball player of the year for the sixth time in a row. At the German championship, Ludwig / Sude lost to Borger / Büthe in the final .

EM in Klagenfurt 2015

In the 2015 season, Ludwig played again with Walkenhorst. At the Grand Slam in Moscow and at the Major Series tournament in Poreč , the duo reached 17th place. In Stavanger , Ludwig / Walkenhorst narrowly missed a medal as fourth and they came fifth at the Grand Slam in Saint Petersburg . At the World Cup in the Netherlands they reached the knockout round after a tie-break loss against the duo Dubovcová / Nestarcová . There they had to admit defeat to the Russians Ukolowa / Birlowa and finished the tournament in 17th place. At the subsequent Major Series tournament in Gstaad , they came in fifth again in the top ten. At the Grand Slam in Yokohama they won the final against the new world champions Bárbara Seixas and Ágatha Bednarczuk . A week later they became European champions in the final against Ukolowa / Birlowa in Klagenfurt . In August, Ludwig was voted beach volleyball player of the year for the seventh time in a row. At the Grand Slam in Long Beach , Ludwig / Walkenhorst achieved third place, while in Olsztyn they only came in ninth. At the German championship they won their second joint title in the final against Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider , for Ludwig personally it was already the sixth victory. At the beginning of October, Ludwig / Walkenhorst lost to the Brazilian duo Larissa / Talita in the final of the 100,000 US dollar beach volleyball tournament in Fort Lauderdale ("World Tour Final") . A week later they won the open tournament in Puerto Vallarta in another German-Brazilian final against Eduarda Lisboa and Elize Maia .

Laura Ludwig (left) and Kira Walkenhorst during the award ceremony at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro

In May 2016 Ludwig / Walkenhorst won the Open tournament in Antalya . At the EM in Biel at the beginning of June they were again European champions with a victory in the final against the Czechs Markéta Sluková and Barbora Hermannová . Ludwig won her fourth gold medal at European championships. A week later, Ludwig / Walkenhorst won the major tournament in Hamburg after two 2-1 victories over Ross / Walsh in the semi-finals and against Bednarczuk / Seixas in the final . By winning the tournament at the subsequent Grand Slam in Olsztyn , Ludwig / Walkenhorst climbed to first place in the world rankings. At the Poreč Major they lost in the German duel for third place against Borger / Büthe . In Gstaad they came in third. At the major tournament in Klagenfurt , they achieved their fifth tournament victory in the current World Tour. As the second best team in the Olympic rankings, Ludwig / Walkenhorst qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro . There they came into the knockout round as group winners and then defeated the Swiss Forrer / Vergé-Dépré and the Canadians Pavan / Bansley without losing a set. With another 2-0 against the Brazilians Larissa / Talita they reached the final. There they defeated the second Brazilian duo Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas also 2-0 and became Olympic champions; it was the first medal for a European women's team. Then Ludwig / Walkenhorst were chosen as the beach volleyball players of the year . Ludwig is now the most successful German player among women with eight awards. In the final of the German championship , Ludwig / Walkenhorst prevailed against Laboreur / Sude and successfully defended their title. At the FIVB season finale in Toronto , Ludwig / Walkenhorst won 2-0 in the final against the Swiss Zumkehr / Heidrich .

2017

After a shoulder operation, Laura Ludwig had to take a break in the first few months of the season. Her partner Kira Walkenhorst therefore took part in the FIVB World Tour in Fort Lauderdale with Julia Großner in February . On her comeback in early May, Ludwig won the tournament at the Smart Super Cup in Münster alongside Walkenhorst . At the four-star tournament of the World Tour 2017 in Rio de Janeiro at the end of May, Ludwig / Walkenhorst achieved fifth place after three wins and a 2-0 defeat in the quarter-finals against Canadians Humana-Paredes / Pavan . They finished the three-star tournaments in Moscow and The Hague in ninth place. For the major tournament in Porec , Ludwig competed with Margareta Kozuch and also finished ninth. Ludwig / Walkenhorst finished the Presidents Cup in Long Beach in fourth place. At the World Championships in Vienna , they came into the knockout phase as group winners, in which they defeated a Chinese and two American duos before they prevailed against the Brazilians Larissa / Talita in a new edition of the Olympic semifinals . With a 2-1 victory in the final against the US duo Ross / Fendrick , they became the first German women to become world champions. At the European Championships in Jūrmala, Ludwig / Walkenhorst lost in the quarter-finals to the later European champions Glenzke / Großner and took fifth place. At the FIVB season finale in Hamburg , Ludwig / Walkenhorst won 2-1 in the final against the Brazilians Ágatha / Duda . Subsequently, Ludwig was voted beach volleyball player of the year for the ninth time in a row. At the German championship they were defeated by Borger / Kozuch and the later vice-champions Gernert / Zautys and finished the tournament in fifth place.

2018 (pregnancy / baby break)

On June 28, Laura Ludwig gave birth to their first son Teo Johnston. The father is the Scottish beach volleyball coach Imornefe Bowes .

2019

After Kira Walkenhorst's career ended, Ludwig has been starting alongside Margareta Kozuch since 2019 . After mixed results, Kozuch / Ludwig became German runners-up at the end of the 2019 season and won the World Tour Final in Rome . In addition, Ludwig was Germany's beach volleyball player of the year for the tenth time.

Web links

Commons : Laura Ludwig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Ludwig / Walkenhorst duo
• DVV national team Ludwig / Walkenhorst
• Results list at the DVV
• Profile at the world association FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Laura Ludwig in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Former DVV national team Ludwig / Goller ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• Documentation Ludwig / Walkenhorst - The way to gold

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German ranking list (as of September 9, 2019)
2. ↑ FIVB world rankings (as of September 9, 2019)
3. ↑ Laura Ludwig from Köpenick wins Olympic gold in beach volleyball in Rio. Berlin District Office Treptow-Köpenick, August 18, 2016, accessed on September 8, 2016 . 
4. ↑ VfL Oythe is looking forward to absolute world class. VfL Oythe , November 24, 2009, accessed July 17, 2012 . 
5. ↑ European champion helps spontaneously. VfL Oythe , December 3, 2010, accessed on July 17, 2012 . 
6. ↑ DVV national team: Goller / Ludwig end their joint careers ( memento of the original from September 19, 2012 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. 
7. ↑ 2013 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Antalya. CEV, April 6, 2013, accessed April 6, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Sao Paulo GRAND SLAM. FIBV, accessed on October 14, 2013 . 
9. ↑ Ludwig / Walkenhorst with historic success - Grand Slam victory in Shanghai. (No longer available online.) Volleyballer.de, May 6, 2014, archived from the original on August 5, 2016 ; accessed on August 5, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Ludwig / Walkenhorst win the highest prize money of their career. Hamburger Abendblatt , October 5, 2015, accessed on October 12, 2015 . 
11. ↑ Thimo Mallon: Kira Walkenhorst and the "unique moment". (No longer available online.) Ruhr Nachrichten , January 19, 2017, archived from the original on January 18, 2017 ; Retrieved January 19, 2017 . 
12. ↑ https://us.swatchmajorseries.com/en/teams-players/teams. In: us.swatchmajorseries.com. Retrieved January 19, 2017 (English). 
13. ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/vermischtes/promi-news/article214730173/Laura-Ludwig-bringt-ihr-erstes-Kind-zur-Welt.html
14. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/2018/47/laura-ludwig-beachvolleyball-mutter-profisport
15. ↑ Matthias Penk : Ludwig about her new partner Margareta Kozuch: "She brings everything you need". In: beach-volleyball.de. January 7, 2019, accessed January 7, 2019 .