Olympian and influencer Alica Schmidt announces major change in track career for 2025 season

German runner Alica Schmidt has announced a major change in her track and field career, and will focus on the 800m distance in the 2025 season. She was part of the German track and field team at the 2024 Paris Olympics but didn't win any medals.

Schmidt competed in the women's 400m at the Olympics but didn't manage to advance from the qualifying round. She finished fourth in her heat in 52.30s.

The 26-year-old was part of Germany's relay teams as well, both women's and mixed. Both teams ended up without a medal, securing seventh place in each of the races.

Schmidt competed in the 800m and 600m following the Olympic Games and has now announced her track plans for 2025. Taking to her Instagram handle, the 26-year-old expressed gratitude for an incredible season before making the announcement.

"It’s been quite a year. It was filled with so many highlights and I made some memories that will last forever: from the world relays in the Bahamas, where we qualified the mixed relay for the Olympics to the European championships in Rome, where we qualified the women’s 4x400m for Paris to the German nationals and of course: THE OLYMPICS," she wrote.

Schmidt added that she had planned in 2022 that she would run 800m after the Paris Olympics. And after a good experience running the distance at the Internationales Nordthüringer Leichtathletikmeeting, she decided to make the move.

"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 added.

She further stated that she was still going to run the 400m in 2025 but the focus would be on the 800m, where her personal best is 2:05.22.

---

Alica Schmidt gets her 'first and only' tattoo in memory of Olympics

Paris 2024 - Athletics - Alica Schmidt in action (Source: Getty)

Alica Schmidt recently got the first tattoo of her life and it was in memory of the Olympic Games. As is the tradition among Olympians, the German runner inked the Olympic rings on the side of her upper thigh.

Alica Schmidt gets Olympic rings tattooed (via Schmidt's Instagram story)

While the 26-year-old inked the tattoo months after the Olympics, she was nonetheless happy for her first one.

“I’m sooo happy!! It turned out exactly how I wanted it,” she said (via New York Post).

Schmidt has already started her preparations for the 2025 track and field season and will likely be seen in action in late January.