Winning medals is an addiction for Germany’s Laura Lindemann. But despite a handful of world titles in her youth, she’s still holding out for the big one.
Who is Laura Lindemann?
Since winning silver as a junior at the European champs when she was 16, Laura Lindemann has been no stranger to championship podiums across the decade since.
She's been German national champion on multiple occasions, along with enjoying plenty of success at European level, despite ever-fierce competition from her rivals.
The Berlin-born athlete has also tasted no small amount of triumphs at the global level. She won her first world junior title in 2014 in Kitzbühel, retaining it the following year in Chicago.
But as she moved through the age categories, success accompanied her, one of the peaks being her capture of the world U23 crown in 2016.
With several of her mass of titles coming at sprint distance, Lindemann is the ideal team member for mixed relay and she’s been a fixture of the German quartet at championships the world over for many seasons.
Indeed, she’s been arguably Germany’s most consistent female short-course competitor in recent times, a familiar face in the top 10 of ITU races.
Although she still only has a single series race victory to her name, Lindemann does have an overall WTS bronze which was won in 2020 when the pandemic dictated that the world championships would be decided by a single race.
This suited Lindemann just fine as Hamburg – the course that’s delivered many of her wins – was to be the crucible.
With plenty of WTS goals still to be fulfilled, it’s not expected that the German will move on to long-course pastures just yet.
Already a veteran of two Olympics, Lindemann will surely bring her Games experience – not to mention her calm big-race mentality – to Paris for the next Olympics in 2024.
How old is Laura Lindemann?
Laura Lindemann was born on June 26 1996, making her 27 years of age.
Laura Lindemann’s career highlights
June 2013: Double delight in Turkey
Lindemann takes the junior women’s silver behind Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown at the ETU European Championships in the resort of Alanya. Two days later, she also picks up bronze in the mixed relay.
June 2014: The queen of Europe
Lindemann goes one better the following year when she takes European junior gold in Kitzbühel, posting the fastest swim and hanging on to take the win by just five seconds. She also upgrades the previous year’s mixed-relay bronze to a gold.
August 2014: On top of the world
Two months later, Lindemann converts her European supremacy into a global title, becoming the junior world champion by holding off the constant challenge of France’s Cassandre Beaugrand.
June 2015: A maiden elite title
Lindemann marks her arrival on the elite scene by taking the German national crown in Düsseldorf, in the process besting compaatriot Anne Haug. Lindemann’s European junior title is retained the following month.
July 2015: A first World Triathlon Series top ten
Lindemann comes seventh in Hamburg as the WTS circus rolls into town. Again she beats Haug, along with the Australian pair Ashleigh Gentle and Emma Jackson. Lindemann’s successfully defends her junior world crown a week later in Chicago.
September 2016: A third world title
After making her Olympic debut in August in Rio (where she finishes outside the top 20), Lindemann grabs another world title, moving up to claim the U23 crown in Cozumel.
June 2017: First international title as an elite
Back on her happy hunting-ground of Düsseldorf, Lindemann adds another gold to her rapidly growing collection, this time becoming the European sprint champion.
July 2017: A debut on a WTS podium
Just to prove she competes best on home turf, Lindemann ventures onto a WTS podium for the first time when the series lands in Hamburg.
The Berliner holds off American Katie Zaferes by a single second to take third place. It's just reward for a couple of seasons of consistent WTS top-10 finishes.
September 2020: A world championship bronze comes her way
The pandemic has ravaged the WTS season, so the world title will be decided by a single race on one of Lindemann’s favourite courses – Hamburg.
Familiarity has bred anything but contempt as she takes bronze behind Taylor-Brown and Bermuda’s Flora Duffy.
June 2021: Golden retriever
Yet another gold medal comes Lindemann’s way, this time it’s a recapture of the European sprint title she first won four years previously.
The following month, the German takes part in her second Olympics, coming eighth in the women’s race and sixth in the mixed relay.
September 2021: A maiden WTS victory
It was only a matter of time. After numerous national, European and world titles, Lindemann finally snaffles her first WTS triumph, breaking the tape in – where else? – Hamburg.
June 2022: Wins the relay gold in Leeds
Spoils the home crowd's day by taking the mixed team relay gold in Leeds. GB run home for second, France third.
August 2o22: Double silver in Munich
Lindemann takes individual and team silver at the European Champs in Munich. Maybe if it'd been in Hamburg…? Saying that, at the 2022 WTCS Hamburg race a month earlier, she could 'only' manage 5th (individual) and 3rd (mixed team relay).
November 2022: Fourth in Bermuda; eighth in the world
Just misses out on the medals at the penultimate round of the 2022 World Triathlon Series.
At the Series Finale in Abu Dhabi a few weeks later, she struggles in 34th place to end the year in eight place overall.
July 2023: Podiums at home, twice
After a slow start to the season, Lindemann returns to the podium in Hamburg, first in the individual race for bronze and then to the top step for the mixed team relay.
August 2023: Books her ticket to Olympics No.3
Takes bronze at the Paris Olympic Games Test Event, meets her national federation's selection criteria, and is off to Paris 2024.
Laura Lindemann in quotes
On the uniqueness of Olympic competition: “You can feel it. Everyone’s a bit more nervous and the whole situation is just a bit more tense. You can definitely feel that in the athletes’ lounge and everywhere.”
On her first World Triathlon Series race win in Hamburg in 2021: “I am so happy. I just can’t believe it. This was the perfect race for me. On the second lap of the run, I just felt that I had the legs and just went for the best. And I made it.”
On why Hamburg has always been her favourite place to race: “Having a home race is always special. Having the home crowd is so important, with all the Germans watching. I couldn’t imagine having a series without Hamburg.”
What’s next for Laura Lindemann?
At 27, there is still plenty of short-course racing left in the German’s legs. And – among all the national, European and world titles and medals she’s amassed since her junior days – there are two notable absentees.
One is a World Triathlon Series individual victory and the other is an Olympic medal of any colour: the latter could be rectified in Paris in two years’ time having secured her place at the Test Event in August 2023.
Top image credit: Ina Fassender/AFP via Getty Images
