Between rivalry and friendship - Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich have decided the World Championship titles between themselves in recent years. In Paris, they will also be competing against each other, but also with each other. The peace and quiet among the German track cycling aces is not yet in danger.
Track World Championships: Wednesday is the start
"We're friends and have breakfast together every day," jokes Emma Hinze, referring to her - intact - relationship with team-mate Lea Sophie Friedrich ahead of the Track Cycling World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, which begin on Wednesday.
The harmony between the two fast athletes is not necessarily a matter of course. After all, Hinze and Friedrich have dominated the world elite for several years. At the last two World Championships in Berlin and Roubaix, they shared all the titles in the short track events, with a 5:5 record in terms of World Championship successes. In the newly founded and lucrative Champions League, however, Hinze was narrowly ahead.
No friendship on the railway
"When we race against each other on the track, there is no friendship," adds Friedrich. "Of course, it's not easy, but on the track, everyone is focussed on each other." Otherwise, however, everything is completely normal when training together in Cottbus. Both know each other inside out from many duels. "Of course you look to see what the others are doing," says Hinze. But it's often pointless to copy one thing. Because the big picture behind the plan is crucial.
And this plan worked out surprisingly well for both of them. There were great fears that the golden years were over after the tragic training accident of record-breaking world champion Kristina Vogel in June 2018. However, sports soldier Hinze and police champion Friedrich made the leap to the top of the world rankings within a very short space of time. Hinze has only just turned 25, while Friedrich is two and a half years younger.
Bronze is not enough
The goals ahead of the title fights on the Olympic track just outside Paris are correspondingly high. "I wouldn't be satisfied if I just came home with bronze," emphasises Hinze, although the new national coach Jan van Eijden thinks it would be presumptuous to talk about all four titles again. The former sprint world champion, who once led the British to great fame, has found himself in a luxurious situation at the BDR. "Here I'm coming into an established system where the athletes are already extremely good. When I started with the Brits, they built it up together."
Breakthrough at the 2020 Track Cycling World Championships
Together, Hinze and Friedrich also catapulted themselves to the top of the world rankings. Both made their big breakthrough at the 2020 World Championships in Berlin just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, they have gone from success to success - with one exception: Hinze and Friedrich "only" won silver in the team sprint at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Things should be different in Paris 2024. "The Olympics are in the back of our minds all the time," says Hinze. Accordingly, the pair are taking a very close look at the Olympic track.
Before the long-running duel between Hinze and Friedrich enters the next round, the two track cyclists want to polish up their World Championship record together. Together with Pauline Grabosch, they are the favourites for World Championship gold in the team sprint. Then it's back-to-back: sprint, 500 metre time trial and keirin. At the end, it's time to settle accounts. But the friendship should not suffer as a result.
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