Maximilian Levy

Maximilian Levy
	Maximilian Levy as European champion in Keirin 2017
To person
Date of birth	June 26, 1987
nation	Germany
discipline	train
Driver type	sprinter
To the team
Current team	Team TheedProjekt-Cycling
function	driver
Most important successes
	Olympic games Olympic bronze team sprint 2008 Olympic bronze team sprint 2012 Olympic silver Keirin 2012 World championships World champion Keirin 2009, team sprint 2010, team sprint 2011, team sprint 2013 European championships European champion team sprint 2010, 2013, Keirin 2013, 2017
	Last updated: October 28, 2017

Maximilian Levy (born June 26, 1987 in East Berlin ) is a German racing cyclist and specialist in short-term disciplines in track cycling . He was four times world champion, four times European champion and won three medals at the Olympic Games (as of 2017).

Athletic career

Maximilian Levy has been active as a cyclist since he was ten years old and was one of the top places in track and road races at an early age . In 2003 he achieved his first podium places at German track championships in the youth class. At the 2004 Junior World Championships in Los Angeles , he won gold in the 1000 meter time trial and team sprint and bronze in the sprint . In the following year he won gold in all three competitions in Vienna as well as in the sprint and 1000-meter time trial at the European Junior Championships. At the World Cup, he set a new European record. There was also a title at German junior championships and the election of the German junior athlete of the year 2005.

At the 2006 World Cup in Moscow , he was the first European to fly below the mark of 10 seconds in qualifying over 200 meters, a record that was, however, improved again by six other drivers during the day.

Maximilian Levy starts for the RSC Cottbus , where he was trained by the then national coach Reneé Schmidt until 2007 . Until 2009 he drove for the Brandenburg team . In December 2009 Maximilian Levy (as the first German) signed a contract with the Cofidis track cycling team. After the Cofidis rail team was dissolved at the end of 2010, Levy switched to the Chemnitz team for natural gas . 2012 .

Levy's greatest successes to date have been winning the world championship title in the Keirin in 2009 and in the team sprint in 2010 together with René Enders and Robert Förstemann as well as the Olympic bronze medal in the team sprint at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing . At the UEC European Rail Championships in 2010 , he fell in the Keirin final and fell out for four months with a broken collarbone , having recently become European champion in the team sprint.

In spring 2011 Levy won the silver medal in the team sprint together with René Enders and Stefan Nimke at the 2011 World Championships in Apeldoorn . After Grégory Baugé withdrew the gold medal from the French team for violating the WADA registration requirements in January 2012 because it was officially classified as a doping offense, the gold medal went to the German trio.

At the 2012 World Championships in Melbourne, Levy won the silver medal in the Keirin. In the team sprint, the German team was relegated (= reset) due to a replacement error. In the same year he won the silver medal in the Keirin at the Olympic Games and, together with Robert Förstemann and René Enders, the bronze medal in the team sprint. At the track world championships in Minsk the following year he was world champion in the team sprint, together with Enders and Stefan Bötticher .

In 2016 Maximilian Levy took part in the Olympic Games for the third time in Rio de Janeiro . Since the two quota places for the short-term disciplines on the track were allocated, Levy was registered pro forma for the road race . Due to a gap in the regulations, he was therefore able to start in his special disciplines on the track. He voluntarily finished the race after 33 kilometers. In the team sprint he finished fifth together with Joachim Eilers and René Enders , ninth in the sprint and 21st in the Keirin.

In January 2017 Levy broke during training in the Oderland hall in Frankfurt (Oder) one repeatedly collarbone . After complications, he had to undergo two operations and so could not start at the World Railroad Championships in Hong Kong . In June 2017 - also in the Oderlandhalle - he became three-time German sprint champion , Keirin and, together with Maximilian Dörnbach and Erik Balzer , team sprint. In October of the same year he won the Keirin title at the European Railway Championships in Berlin and together with Förstemann and Eilemann won the silver medal in the team sprint. In spring 2018 he finished third in the Keirin at the World Railroad Championships in Apeldoorn .

In June 2018, Maximilian Levy announced that he would start as an endurance driver for LKT Brandenburg in the team pursuit at the German track championships in Dudenhofen in July 2018 . He had previously canceled his participation in the UEC European Rail Championships in Glasgow in 2018 . He needed a longer break from competition before the start of the World Cup season in October 2018. In September 2018, he also canceled his participation in the 2019 UCI Track World Championships as a precautionary measure , as his wife was expecting their third child at that time. But he will complete the World Cup season as planned.

On December 22, 2018 Levy set a new German record over 500 meters with a flying start in the Oderlandhalle in Frankfurt (Oder) with 24.758 seconds . This is the second fastest time ever set this distance. In 2007, Chris Hoy set the still existing world record (24.758 seconds) at an altitude of 3600 meters in La Paz in Bolivia , making Levy's time a lowland world record.

Honors

After the 2012 Olympics , Levy was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf . In 2013 he was voted Sportsman of the Year in Brandenburg and in 2017 Sportsman of the Year in Cottbus.

Miscellaneous

On the Easter weekend of 2014, he married his long-term partner, the former cyclist Madeleine Sandig . The family lives in Cottbus .

Maximilian Levy was there on June 26, 2018 when his teammate Kristina Vogel fell and was seriously injured during training on the cycling track in Cottbus . He worked as a first aider . Together with other cycling enthusiasts , he then initiated the #staystrongkristina funding campaign in favor of Vogel, which raised 120,000 euros within a very short time.

On June 30, 2019, Levy started at Ironman Germany in Frankfurt am Main . He finished the competition in 12:21:38 hours and reached 942th place among 2748 participants.

successes

Levy during training with national coach Detlef Uibel in the Cologne bicycle stadium

Maximilian Levy (front) on the podium at the World Track Championships 2011 in Apeldoorn

Levy (center) with Förstemann (left) and Eilers with the EM silver medal in the 2017 team sprint

2004: World Championship (Juniors) - Time Trial; World Championship (Juniors) - Team Sprint (with Robert Förstemann and Benjamin Wittmann ); World Championship (Juniors) - Sprint; German Champion (Juniors) - Sprint; German Championship (Juniors) - Time Trial
2005: World Championship (Juniors) - Time Trial; World Championship (Juniors) - Sprint; World Championship (Juniors) - Team Sprint (with René Enders and Benjamin Wittmann ); Track Cycling World Cup (Manchester) Keirin; European Champion (Juniors) - Time Trial; European Champion (Juniors) - Sprint; German Champion - Time Trial (Juniors); German Championship (Juniors) - Team Sprint (with Florian Karger and Johann Kassner)
2006: European Champion (U23) - Team Sprint (with René Enders and Michael Seidenbecher ); European Sprint Champion (U23); European Championship (U23) - Keirin; European Championship (U23) - Time Trial; German championship - time trial
2007: World Championship - Team Sprint (with Robert Förstemann and Stefan Nimke ); European Championship (U23) - Time Trial
2008: Olympic Games - Team Sprint (with René Enders and Stefan Nimke ); German champion - Keirin
2009: World Championship - Keirin; German champion - Keirin; European Champion (U23) - Keirin
2010: World Championship - Team Sprint (with Robert Förstemann and Stefan Nimke ); World Championship - Keirin; European champions - team sprint; German Championship - Sprint; German Championship - Team Sprint (with Erik Balzer and Eric Engler )
2011: World Champion - Team Sprint (with Stefan Nimke and René Enders ); European Championship - Sprint; German champion - team sprint (with Carsten Bergemann and Robert Förstemann ) and in the Keirin; Track Cycling World Cup 2010/11 (Manchester) - team sprint (with Stefan Nimke and René Enders ); International Keirin (Manchester)
2012: World Championship - Keirin; Track Cycling World Cup 2011/12 (Astana) - team sprint (with Joachim Eilers and Robert Förstemann ); Track Cycling World Cup 2011/12 (Cali) - Keirin; Track Cycling World Cup 2011/12 (Cali) - team sprint (with René Enders and Stefan Nimke ) with a new world record (42.914 seconds); Olympic Games - Team Sprint (with René Enders and Robert Förstemann ); Olympic Games Keirin
2013: World Championship - Team Sprint (with Stefan Bötticher and René Enders ); World Championship - Keirin; European Champion - Keirin; European Champion - Team Sprint (with Robert Förstemann and René Enders ); German champion - 1000 meter time trial
2014