{"id":237008,"date":"2025-07-04T09:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237008\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T09:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:05:09","slug":"for-new-germany-coach-natalia-valeeva-the-drive-to-win-still-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237008\/","title":{"rendered":"For new Germany coach Natalia Valeeva, the drive to win still burns"},"content":{"rendered":"

That may be a little easier with a squad that already includes proven performers: Olympic medallists Michelle Kroppen<\/a> (Paris 2024 mixed team silver) and Charline Schwarz<\/a> (Tokyo 2020 team bronze), reigning European Champion Katharina Bauer<\/a> and world number 16 Elisa Tartler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Across the board it’s a strong, consistent, quality team, but Valeeva is also tasked with guiding the next generation \u2013 like Antalya 2022<\/a> silver medallist Elina Idensen<\/a> (22) and under-21 European Youth Cup<\/a> bronze medallist Regina Kellerer<\/a> (18) \u2013 into senior contention.<\/p>\n

Strengthening squad depth ahead of LA28<\/a> is a key priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are high-level athletes and young athletes who want to learn to become champions,\u201d said Valeeva. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to find a \u2018universal language\u2019 that works for everyone \u2013 so I\u2019m trying to understand how to communicate mastery of the perfect shot in different ways: from the movement to the impact on the target.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say with certainty that the perfect shot does not have to weigh us down too much, so when we see it in the centre, it gives us pleasure and satisfaction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say with certainty that the perfect shot does not have to weigh us down too much, so when we see land in the centre, it gives us pleasure and satisfaction \u2013 the same sensations as eating our favourite cake. The shooting sequence is the cake\u2026 and the impact on the target is the icing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Results have been modest so far in 2025. Germany\u2019s recurve women haven\u2019t reached the podium in any individual or team events during the first three Hyundai Archery World Cup stages \u2013 Central Florida<\/a>, Shanghai and Antalya<\/a> \u2013 but there have been highlights. Kroppen and Florian Unruh<\/a> won bronze in the mixed team in Florida; Bauer and Unruh took silver in Antalya.<\/p>\n

Valeeva, a two-time World Archery Champion, isn\u2019t worried. She\u2019s lived through six Olympic cycles and knows there\u2019s time to build. Germany remains a consistent medalling nation \u2013 but has never won Olympic gold in archery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That may be a little easier with a squad that already includes proven performers: Olympic medallists Michelle Kroppen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[53907,2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-237008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-coaching","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114794170063203956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}