The World Games Athlete of July 2020

The World Games Athlete of July 2020

In July 2020 Mareike Thum has set the first ever World Skate World Hour Record: 34.336 km in one hour. "That hour seemed never ending. After 30 minutes I was already weary, but I still had half of it in front of me," said Thum, and continued: "But I did end up with a world record!" Due to the fact that the Inline Speed Skating World Championship 2020 had to be cancelled, The World Games champion from 2017 has now reached another achievement in her life. More than deservedly, she is our Athlete of July 2020!  

Mareike Thum grew up in Darmstadt and started to skate in her early childhood. In 2001 she switched from figure skating to inline speed skating, and in 2006 she achieved her first big international successes with four gold medals at the European Junior Championships. The same year, Thum qualified for her first Junior World Championships in South Korea and achieved a bronze medal in the relay. In 2008, Mareike Thum won the gold medal in the elimination race at the Junior World Championships.  

Since 2009 she has been participating in the Senior Women class at World and European Championships. In her first year as a senior she was able to win gold at the World Championships with the German relay team. At the same World Championships, she won her first individual medal (bronze) in the 10,000 m points race on the road, which she was able to repeat the year after. In 2013 she won silver at The World Games in Cali, Colombia over 1,000 m on the track. At the following edition of The World Games in 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland, Mareike Thum led the German team as flag bearer at the opening ceremony. She won bronze in 15,000 m elimination on the track and in 20,000 m on the road and was able to end the successful Games by celebrating her first gold medal at The World Games in the 500 m sprint on the road. As gold medallist, she was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf by the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Her latest big successes in 2018 and 2019 were winning and defending the World Champion title in the 1000 m sprint race.

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 The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in The World Games.

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