Paul Herrmann (short tracker)

Paul Herrmann
nation	Germany
birthday	November 16, 1985
place of birth	Dresden
size	174 cm
job	Police Chief Candidate
Career
society	Ice skating club Dresden
Trainer	Éric Bédard
National squad	since 2004
status	active
Medal table
World Cup medals 0 × 1 × 1 × EM medals 1 × 1 × 2 ×
Short track world championships bronze 2010 Sofia 5000 meter relay silver 2011 Sheffield 5000 meter relay  European Short Track Championships gold 2007 Sheffield 5000 meter relay silver 2010 Dresden 5000 meter relay bronze 2012 Mladá Boleslav 5000 meter relay bronze 2014 Dresden 5000 meter relay
Placements in the Short Track World Cup
Debut in the World Cup February 2006
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Relay / team 0 1 3
last change: January 31, 2010

Paul Herrmann (born November 16, 1985 in Dresden ) is a German short tracker .

Herrmann began as an ice hockey player, switched to the short track at the age of twelve and already achieved some successes in the junior area. After he was injured more often from 2004 to 2006 and therefore also missed the qualification for the 2006 Olympic Games, he has been a firmly established member of the German national team since the 2006/07 season. In the World Cup, he mainly competes in 1,500 meter races and relay competitions. At the beginning of 2007 he won the European title with the relay, three years later he qualified for the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Career

Junior successes (until 2004)

Herrmann's parents were both active ice athletes; The man from Dresden sees this as a reason that he started playing ice hockey at the age of three . He trained this sport for nine years, but then switched to the short track at the age of twelve, because he was “neither the best nor the greatest” in ice hockey, as he later said with regard to this time. Successes in the national junior sector - he became German junior champion for the first time in the 14 to 15 age group - was followed by his international debut when he competed in the 2003 Junior World Championships. There he made it to the semi-finals over 1500 meters and thus came 14th. These convincing results meant that Herrmann was also nominated for the adult world championship shortly after the Junior World Championships. As a substitute runner, however, he was not used in the relay that was fifth.

A similar situation arose before the start of the 2003/04 season, when Herrmann was appointed to the World Cup team as the fifth man and thus as a "replacement on call". Behind Sebastian Praus , Arian Nachbar , Thomas Bauer and Falko Grunewald , however, there was initially no chance of being used in the highest competition series. At the end of the year, the man from Dresden took fourth place in the election for the German short tracker of the year , in which Sebastian Praus won. Instead of making a World Cup debut, Herrmann competed in Beijing for the second time at a Junior World Cup at the beginning of January 2004 . There he impressed on the first day of the competition and qualified for the finals of the best seven runners through the preliminary runs, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals. In the double victory of the South Koreans Lee Ho-suk and Kwon Ki-deok in front of the Briton Jon Eley , he finished fifth out of a total of 58 participants. Until then, no German had managed to qualify for the final race. Accordingly, the junior national coach Markus Tröger was very satisfied with Herrmann and explained:

“Paul Herrmann's performance cannot be rated highly enough. From the preliminary to the final he was always tactically skilful and strong and never got through to the next round through luck, but always through skill. "

Herrmann also achieved good placings in the other Junior World Championships competitions, such as tenth place over 500 meters and ninth place in the all-around event, in which all route results are included. Here, the man from Dresden was also the most successful German athlete - the first to be among the top ten at a Junior World Cup - until Robert Seifert even won the sprint distance three years later. The athlete himself was also surprised by his results, but also said that it was good that the World Championships were now over, as the many runs “really got down to business”. His goal now is to recommend himself to the World Cup team for the first time this winter. In fact, he was nominated for the World Cup final in Bormio in mid-February, where he was eliminated over 1500 meters in the run-up and took last place in the semi-finals with the relay.

Injuries and prevented Olympic qualification (2004 to 2006)

At the beginning of the 2004/05 season, Paul Herrmann had finally established himself in the A-squad of the German short track team. Over 1500 meters, he set the German junior record in 2: 18.658 minutes at the World Cup opener in Harbin, China, and finished 13th overall. At the second World Cup, he did not make it through the heats on his parade route. He then suffered a cut in training and had to skip the upcoming World Cups in December. Herrmann was healed in time for another participation in the Junior World Championships, which took place in January 2005 in Belgrade . For the now 19-year-old, this was the last start at a major junior event, and from winter 2005/06 onwards he was finally part of the adult division. At his last Junior World Championships, he did not quite build on the successes of the previous year, but classified himself in the all-around competition as a good thirteenth.

Before the start of the 2005 season, Paul Herrmann was named German junior short tracker of the year, together with Tina Grassow in the women's race. The rest of the winter was marked by injuries: originally intended for the World Cup opener in Asia in September, he was canceled due to an inflammation. The German national coach Jürgen Denhardt said that Herrmann was in very good shape, which made the failure even more annoying. In October he suffered another cut in a training fall, which meant that he was not eligible for the Olympic elimination and had no chance of qualifying for the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin . In general, the winter for the German ended without a single World Cup appearance. Nevertheless, he returned at the end of the season at least on a national level and secured the bronze medal in the all-around competition at the German championships, as well as winning the 1000 meters. In mid-2006 he was again one of the candidates for the title of German Shorttracker of the Year with the reasoning: "An injury at the start of the season broke the 20-year-old Dresden's Olympic dreams, but at the end of the season he again stood up to the seasoned aces."

Establishment in the national team (2006 to 2008)

Paul Herrmann experienced his first continuous World Cup season in winter 2006/07 . The start in Asia and North America was mixed, but the best results were a twelfth place in Changchun and a third place with the relay - Herrmann's first podium result. The placements were constant, so that in mid-January 2007 the man from Dresden was nominated for the European Championship for the first time . In the individual races he did not make it to the finals, so that he was only 21st and worst of the three Germans in the all-around competition. However, he was successful with the relay: he was involved in all three races when the Germans became European champions for the second time since 2005 . At the penultimate World Cup of the winter in Heerenveen , many non-European nations were not at the start, so the competition was considerably weaker. Herrmann qualified second in the semi-finals for the first time for the finals in the World Cup, but the jury disqualified him and put him back in 19th place. The national coach Markus Tröger could not understand the decision and said: "Paul overtook, but I saw absolutely nothing of a handicap." In return, the German relay, in which Herrmann's performance was highlighted, only narrowly missed the win and finally finished second. At the last World Cup of the season, the man from Dresden set a new personal best over 1500 meters, which he ran in 2: 16.818 minutes. In February and March the national and international championships were due, Herrmann became German runner-up and took part in a world championship for the first time, in which, however, he was only sixth with the relay. He achieved the same result at the Team World Cup a week later.

Paul Herrmann was optimistic about the 2007/08 season; His preparation went perfectly, he had neither injured himself nor fell ill, so that he could start the season “in top shape”. His goal was the top ten in the World Cup, both on the individual distances and in the all-around competition. The Dresdner did not come close to this requirement during the first World Cup stations, in Asia he even missed the top twenty places in some cases. Only at the World Cups in Europe did he show good results again, at least in the relay; in Heerenveen he said after the semi-finals, in which he had moved up from fourth to second position as the final runner, he had probably just run the best laps of his career. At the beginning of 2008 Herrmann was used for the second time at a European championship , in Ventspils things should go better for him than in the previous year: “A single-digit place (in the all-around) is the minimum goal, but of course I'm also fighting to reach the final on the individual routes. ”The coaches also saw a relay medal as a duty. In fact, Herrmann improved in the all-around competition and reached eleventh place after finishing fifth over 1500 meters. However, the German relay team was eliminated in the semifinals and did not defend their previous year's title as fifth. The remaining World Cups were also mediocre, the relay team did not qualify for the World Championship in Gangneung , where Herrmann took part for the first time as an individual starter and was nineteenth.

Olympic qualification (2008 to 2010)

Like Tyson Heung , the most successful German short tracker at the time, Paul Herrmann was sure to be nominated again for the World Cup team after the World Cup. This changed the coach in summer 2008; Markus Tröger was followed by the Canadian Éric Bédard , who particularly focused on hard training units. Bédard received special praise from the team, and Herrmann also said: “He not only makes demands, he always justifies them. His international experience as an active player is worth gold, his knowledge as a trainer is up to date with the latest international standards. ”The season opener to the World Cup 2008/09 went well for the German team, Herrmann made it eighth in Vancouver over 1000 meters best season result. Shortly afterwards, he improved that result himself when he finished seventh over the same distance in Beijing. In January 2009, the third European championships were on the program for Herrmann. He only missed the finals over 500 meters in the semifinals because of a stumble. When he tried to overtake the Frenchman Thibaut Fauconnet , he lost his balance, fell and was disqualified because of the handicap of the following runners. The coach Bédard said: “Really a tough decision, but the referee saw it that way.” The season semi-final was also unfortunate for the man from Dresden. During the race, his skate was damaged in an overtaking maneuver and he was unable to continue, so that the remaining laps were only contested by his three teammates. They were ultimately eliminated as third. After the competitions, Herrmann was called the “unlucky person of the day”.

The last World Cups of the winter took place in Europe again, including the final in Dresden for the first time. At the penultimate station in Sofia , the relay reached third place and thus the first podium result of the season. Before the home World Cup, Herrmann said: “There is a certain pressure, but I believe that the motivation prevails.” In Dresden, the relay team, which set a German record in the semi-finals and came third in the final, was particularly convincing. Herrmann's best individual result, who described the home World Cup as the most beautiful competition of his life, was a tenth place over 1500 meters. After the World Cup finals, the short trackers completed the international championships. While Herrmann had to skip the national competitions due to an infection, he successfully competed at the World Championships in Vienna . In the high-quality quarter-finals over 1500 meters he was eliminated in fourth place; those placed before him all three qualified for the final. For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the man from Dresden managed to qualify for the finals with the German relay team, where he issued a medal as the goal: “We are strong enough that we can do it on our own.” The Germans made it through in the final a change problem finally the fourth and last rank.

The Olympic winter 2009/2010 began comparatively early; the first World Cups were already on the agenda in mid-September. Only the third and fourth stations in North America were decisive for the Olympic qualification. At the first two venues in Asia, Herrmann's appearances differed greatly: While in Beijing he initially ran "simply too defensive, without risk" from his own point of view, in Seoul he appeared more aggressive, more offensive and more self-confident. As the best individual result he achieved a 13th place over 1000 meters, with the relay he placed in sixth place. At the World Cup in Montreal , Canada , the first opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, Herrmann did not yet achieve the necessary results and was accordingly dissatisfied with his performance. In Marquette he reached the semi-finals over 1500 meters, which also meant meeting the Olympic norm issued by the DOSB . The season also managed to qualify, moving into the finals and finishing fourth there. A total of six German short trackers - five of them men - fulfilled the Olympic standard; They were officially nominated by the DOSB on December 18, 2009.

Before the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver , the European Championships took place in Dresden. For the first time at a major international event, Herrmann was able to qualify for the final run; over 1500 meters he finished fourth and narrowly missed a medal. In the final lap he withdrew an overtaking maneuver against the Dutchman Niels Kerstholt in order not to risk disqualification. In retrospect, he was annoyed by this tactical mistake: “I should have passed the outside better, I think I would have passed. I still had enough strength. ”He also made it to the final with the relay and won the silver medal there - after the gold medal three years earlier, his second international precious metal.

Web links

• Paul Herrmann in the database of ShorttrackOnLine.info (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Anni and Jan Friesinger win election
2. ↑ Distance Classification Men 1500m ( Memento from March 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ The successful weekend at a glance
4. ↑ Short Track World Cup in Harbin, 3rd day
5. ↑ Shorthand notes from the World Cups
6. ↑ DESG News from September 8, 2005
7. ↑ DESG News from November 2, 2005
8. ↑ DESG sports survey 2006  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Information from Turin, Heerenveen, Berlin
10. ^ Paul Herrmann: optimistic about the season
11. ↑ Skaters hissing off to Turin
12. ↑ "Relay medals are mandatory"
13. Jump up to North America
14. ↑ Silver for the German women / Herrmann's unlucky fellow
15. ↑ 2400 spectators celebrated Shorttrack and the German runners in Dresden
16. ↑ Men's relay on medal course / Herrmann: "Now we want to know!"
17. ↑ Paul Herrmann: Offensive has paid off
18. ↑ First-hand: Paul Herrmann's Montreal roller coaster
19. ^ DOSB nominates the first 44 active players for Vancouver
20. ↑ EM 2010: Herrmann Show to kick off ( Memento from July 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )