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Alica Schmidt announced a major training update ahead of the start of the 2025 track and field season as she looks to safeguard herself from Germany's cold weather. She made her Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Schmidt announced in an Instagram story on Friday that she was flying to South Africa for the first training camp of the year. Exuding her excitement for the upcoming indoor track season, the German runner wrote:
"I'm flying to South Africa for the first training camp of the year 🥰🙌. Season starts soon 👀."
In her next story, the 26-year-old suggested Germany's cold weather was one of her reasons for attending the training camp in warm African weather.
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"Escaping the cold ❄," she added
Schmidt was initially selected to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of Germany's 4x400m relay team. She, however, didn't run in the Games and made the team in both the individual 400m and 4x400m relay for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Making her debut in the women's 400m inside Stade de France, the 26-year-old clocked 52.30s in the preliminary round and placed fifth, failing to advance to the next round. Schmidt later competed in both the women's and mixed 4x400m relays, placing seventh in both events.
Alica Schmidt will focus on 800m instead of 400m in 2025 track and field season
Alica Schmidt has run the 400m distance for the majority of her career and has an impressive personal best of 52.07s in the event. However, the German runner revealed in November 2024 that she would upgrade to 800m in the 2025 track and field season.
"After Paris I tried something new and ran a 800m & 600m and really enjoyed pushing out of my comfort zone. Back in 2022, I decided that I wanted to give the 800m a shot after the Paris Olympics, so now it means… I’m going for it next year. I‘m on my way to my first high altitude training camp where I’ll join an international 800m group to train alongside great athletes where I can learn a lot," she said in an Instagram post.
The 26-year-old ran 800m following the Paris Olympics at the Internationales Nordthüringer Leichtathletik meeting and clocked a lifetime best of 2:05.22 for a sixth-place finish. She competed over the 600m ISTAF 2024, finishing an impressive third in 1:24.88.
