On June 27th and 28th I was at the German Para Athletics Championship in Dresden and ran the 400m on both days – two races, two guides. It was the big heatwave weekend, so both races were moved earlier: the first from 4 pm to 10 am, the second from 1:30 pm to 9 am.

On Saturday I started in the Men’s Master I (T12) class, with guide Sophie. Right after the first bend I felt dizzy – the heat. I pushed through anyway: 66.57 seconds and 426 points. In the T12 ranking I was the only entrant, but in my 400m heat I crossed the line first by a clear margin.

On Sunday morning another 400m, in the open men’s T12 class and with guide Simon. 68.41 seconds, fifth in the second heat, second of two in the T12 ranking. It just wouldn’t go any faster – my legs still had Saturday in them, plus the heat again. For two 400m races on two days I’m probably still lacking the fitness.

In the heat I didn’t get near my 65.80 personal best from two weeks earlier in Augsburg, but 66.57 is fine. Thanks to Sophie and Simon for guiding.

The official results of the two races:

A short cut from Saturday, edited with TSNLE:

On June 14th I ran the 400m at the Inclusive Max Steger Sportfest in the Rosenaustadion in Augsburg. Again with my guide Simon.

My coach Mona had been working with me on race pace and starts in the weeks before. That paid off. My plan was simple: run the 300m like in training, then hang on for the last 100m. No overpacing, just hold on.

The start was good. But according to Simon I picked up noticeably after about 80m — same issue as last time. Between 30 and 50 meters before the finish something locked up in my right foot and I could barely move it. That cost time.

Still: 65.80 seconds. New personal best, about 2 seconds faster than at the Ludwig Jall Sportfest (67.52s).

Next goal: sub-65 — and fix the surge after 80m from the gun. Should be doable! Next race is the German Para Athletics Championship in Dresden, where I run the 400m twice: masters and open. With Sophie and with Simon.

On May 23rd I ran the 400m at the Rolf Watter Sportfest in Regensburg, this time with my guide Sophie. It was almost 30 degrees Celsius and the race didn’t start until around 8:15 pm.

The start went fine. I came out too slowly, though. After 150 metres Sophie noticed that I picked up the pace — that’s not how it should go; the extra speed should have come earlier. The time was 68.09 seconds.

That’s about 0.5 seconds slower than the new personal best from the week before at the Ludwig Jall Sportfest. There’s room to improve for the next race if I go out faster from the start.

Video of the race:

On May 16th I ran the 400m at the 39th Ludwig Jall Sportfest in the Dante Stadium in Munich. This year the meet was also the Bavarian Para Athletics Championship. Last year I ran the same race in 70.6 seconds (Read more), so the goal was to go faster.

This time I ran with Simon Pieper, the same guide as in Vienna last summer. We had a good warmup and did a few stride progressions to find the pace. The plan was the same as in Vienna: quick out of the blocks, top speed early, then long strides until the end.

The start was good and we held the pace. Time was 67.52 seconds. A new personal best, 0.67 seconds faster than my 68.19s from the German Indoor Championship in February.

Video of the race:

On February 28, 2026, it was that time again! Indoor championship!

This year I ran the 400m indoors with Simon again. And I set another personal best!

Results list

But I’m not entirely satisfied. The start wasn’t great. I totally overthought it and tried to focus on a low, powerful start. But unfortunately it ended up being more of a stand-up-and-go. After the second corner, I wanted to take it easy for the few downhill steps coming out of the banked curve. But I relaxed a bit too much and couldn’t build the speed back up. My split time at 200m was 31 seconds. I can do that in training after a few brutal tempo runs without spikes from a standing start. So I’ve still got plenty left in the tank for the outdoor season!