After even winning the first round of the four-weekend, five-competition event in Mallorca at the end of October, Pröpster finished in a strong second place in the final standings of the short-time classification in a select field of world champions and Olympic champions, beaten only by the current keirin world champion from Glasgow, New Zealand's Ellesse Andrews.
In addition, the woman from the Swabian Alb, who actually focusses her training in Kaiserslautern, is about to take her final exam for her training with the Federal Police in Kienbaum near Berlin. She took the time to recap the last few weeks for TOUR.
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster in a TOUR interview
TOUR: Alongside the World Championships, the Olympics and the Nations Cup, the UCI Track Champions League is the most important competition on the track. As one of the youngest starters, you performed really well in your very first participation and delivered in the concert of the greats. What is your headline for the last few weeks?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: Definitely "overwhelming". It's all totally crazy. It was a lot of fun. I only recently told my parents that I still haven't processed all the impressions. I had imagined everything to be pretty cool, but not quite so blatant. I'm still speechless when someone asks me what it was like.
TOUR: Keyword processing - how do you do that?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: It's all totally unrealistic, because the world's best female sprinters are waiting at the start. You know what successes they've all had. And then I join them as a non-name. I can only deal with it by trying to enjoy it. Here at the Federal Police, I get a lot of appreciation for it, even from other sports.
TOUR: When did you find out that you were allowed to take part in the Champions League?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: On the last evening of the World Championships in Glasgow, national coach Jan van Eijden asked me if I was in the mood. That actually sealed the deal. I just had to sort everything out with the police because I'm not allowed to have so many days off in my final year. But that wasn't a problem.
TOUR: And then it's off to Mallorca for the first race at the end of October. And you win the round straight away. Did the competition underestimate you?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: I can well imagine that. They already knew me. I was at the World Championships and won the keirin at the Nations Cup in Milton this year. A lot of people might have thought "she's fast, but not enough for the front". Or "Milton was just luck". The fact that Emma Finucane (current sprint world champion in Glasgow; editor's note) in the sprint final, I don't think so. We were also in the final at the U23 European Championships this year and I beat her there. But I can imagine that the older athletes might not have had this youngster on their radar.
TOUR: Ultimately, you only got the chance to play in the Champions League because the German first team of Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch had to miss out in favour of preparing for the European Championships in January. How did your colleagues react?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: Pauline wrote to me and we also spoke on the phone. She was also there in Berlin and London. And Lea also congratulated me briefly after Mallorca.
TOUR: That doesn't sound particularly exuberant. What is the relationship like between the women on the national sprint team?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: Yes, we actually get on really well. Of course it's difficult when you're always on top of each other, but we have fun together. Maybe it just wasn't really realised. But maybe there was also the thought that there was a fourth person in the group who shouldn't be underestimated.
TOUR: Like Hinze, Friedrich and Grabosch, you were also a successful junior and are a multiple world champion. You also won the U23 European Championship title. Nevertheless, you are still very much in the shadow of the other three.
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: I can deal with that quite well, I think. Of course, it's stupid that it's always just the three of us. You're there and people always say how important the reserve rider is and that she's just as much a part of the team. But at the end of the day, I'm not at the top. Of course it's difficult, but I always tell myself that there's a reason for everything. The Champions League has shown that I can also finish at the front. Maybe it's reassuring for the others that there's still someone there in an emergency.
TOUR: But perhaps it can also be interpreted as a challenge.
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: It's also possible that someone feels a little uneasy, but I wouldn't call it a declaration of war. I'm focussing on myself. And if it's enough because I'm getting better, then that's great. But I don't want to put any pressure on myself.
TOUR: What's next for you after the exciting Champions League weeks?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: First of all, I'll relax. On 29 November, I'll fly to Mallorca for a training camp with the girls and boys of the national team. The others will continue to prepare for the European Championships and I'll catch up on my basic training course, which the rest of the team had before the Champions League. I'll then write my final exam in January - exactly the same week as the European Championships. But Jan wants to see the Olympic team sprint there anyway, just like at the first Nations Cup in Australia. I'll be travelling to the second one in Hong Kong as a substitute. The third one in Milton could be my moment.
TOUR: Do you have ambitions for the Olympics?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: I see it realistically. The other three have broken the world record several times and are world champions. I don't think I'm quite ready yet, partly because I've been injured from time to time recently and had to take time out. I need a relaxed development process. That's why Paris comes a little too early for me. But of course I'd love to be there as a substitute rider. I think my highlight next year will be the World Championships, which come after the Olympics. The World Championships after the Games are always known as the World Championships for the youngsters. That could be my chance.
TOUR: In the Champions League, it suited you that the keirin and sprint were ridden there. These are your strongest disciplines.
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: But I will continue to ride everything there is in the future, because the 500 metres and the team sprint are also Olympic. The team sprint is also one of my strengths. I don't get away quite as well from the standing start. We are working on this weakness. But I'm already quite fast in second and third position. The U23 showed that. The 500 metres aren't quite my thing, but I'll keep going anyway, because from 2025 it will be 1000 metres. That could work in my favour, because among the sprinters I'm not quite as fast as Pauline, for example, but I'm really good at the back.
TOUR: Is it possible that the parallel training at the time is standing in the way of your development?
Alessa-Catriona Pröpster: No, not at all. Since I've been here in Kienbaum since September, I've been lifting more weights in the gym than ever before. It worked well in the Champions League. Of course it's a double burden when the bell rings just before six, then there are lessons until 4.30pm and then training afterwards. But the regular daily routine is really good for me. What's more, I have a super training group here and trainers in Kristina Vogel and Matthias John, who help me a lot. It's actually ideal.
About Alessa-Catriona Pröpster
Born in Hechingen in the Swabian Alb, Alessa-Catriona Pröpster grew up in a sports-mad family. Her father introduced her to cycling at RSG Zollern-Alb when she was twelve, first on a mountain bike and then on the road. She became German youth champion in the individual time trial there in 2017, but has also competed on the track in several disciplines.
She only practised this before because her coach Frank Ziegler insisted on holistic training. Ziegler should know; after all, he was not only her stepfather, but also the coach of Olympic and world champion Miriam Welte. In the meantime, the track has become the only alternative for Pröpster, who only focussed on the short-track disciplines in her first year at U19 level. "I would also have liked to continue on the road. But I'm now too heavy for the mountains," she laughs.
Middle name Father's idea
Incidentally, the middle name is her father's fault. "He liked the Canadian speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan back then. And track cycling and speed skating aren't that different," says Alessa-Catriona Pröpster. "So it was also a special story that I won my first Nations Cup in Milton, Canada, of all places. The local riders really celebrated, they knew the name from somewhere."
Kaiserslautern is the centre of Alessa Pröpster's life. She completed her Abitur at the Sportgymanisum there and was also honoured by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as an elite student of sport in 2019. When her training with the Federal Police ends in February, she will return there. "The boarding school is giving us the renovated old caretaker's flat with a kitchen. That will be cool," she says, looking forward to her first flat of her own. The two Palatinate track cyclists Luca Spiegel and Henric Hackmann will also be moving in.
Future plans for Alessa-Catriona Pröpster
The move should help to sharpen her focus. "I can concentrate on myself. Everyone says that it suits me to do my thing. I'm always compared to a world saviour who takes care of everything but herself. So I can put everything into the sport for now."
And then back into further training, because when this is completed at the beginning of 2024, Pröpster will find himself in the intermediate civil service. However, the aim is definitely to become a senior civil servant, and a further year of training could make that possible. And perhaps a psychology degree will be added. "I find it fascinating what goes on in people's heads. And it certainly won't do any harm in the police profession later on." Pröpster's dream direction: offender profiling.
