Tina Grassow began figure skating at the age of three , switched to speed skating at the age of five and to the short track at the age of eleven. It started first for the ESC Dresden club , and from 2001 onwards for the Dresden ice skating club . She was trained by Jeroen Otten and Éric Bédard . At the age of 14 she took part in national junior championships for the first time and was accepted into the German national team a little later. She started at the Junior World Championships in 2003 and reached the semi-finals as the best result over 1500 m. The following year she took part again in the Junior World Championship, with the season she was fourth in the final. At the 2004 World Cup in Gothenburg , she played her first international championship in the adult area, but was eliminated there with the relay in the run-up. In February 2004 she also made her debut in the World Cup. In the 2004/05 season Grassow took part in all six World Cups. Over 500 m she reached the quarter-finals as the best individual result. With the relay she finished second in Hartford and thus achieved a podium finish in the World Cup for the first time. She took part in all the highlights of the season. At the European Championships in Turin , she won her first international medal with bronze in the relay. In the Junior World Championship, however, she just missed a medal in fourth over 500 m. She also competed in the World Cup in Beijing . There the German relay team was disqualified in the run-up. In the 2005/06 season Grassow achieved her greatest success in the World Cup again with the relay. At the World Cup in The Hague , she finished second on the podium for the second time. At the European Championships in Krynica-Zdrój , she achieved her best ever European Championship result in a single race. Over 1500 m she reached the semifinals. Grassow qualified for the Olympic Games in Turin. With the relay she finished sixth.
In the 2006/07 season , Grassow again achieved the best individual result at the World Cup in Changchun , a semifinal over 1500 m. She celebrated her greatest sporting success at the European Championships in Sheffield . In the season she was European champion and won her only international title. In the 2007/08 season Grassow took part in three World Cups, but without achieving good placements. The highlight of the season was again the European Championship in Ventspils , where she won the bronze medal with the relay. She also became German champion for the first time and won the 1500 m and all-around competition.
In the 2008/09 season Grassow took part in the first two World Cups, but withdrew from the short track at the beginning of 2009, at the age of just 20. The reasons for this were problems with the new national coach Éric Bédard and the concentration on studying media studies at the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences .
In addition to studying media studies, she got her license as a figure skating trainer and worked as a trainer. National coach Michael Kooreman and the prospect of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi also persuaded them to return to active sport .
Web links
Tina Grassow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
Tina Grassow in the database of ShorttrackOnLine.info (English)
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