Ludwig, Laura

Laura Ludwig began playing at the age of 8 at the Berlin Köpenick club, and since 1999 has combined classical and beach volleyball training. In August 2003, together with Jana Köhler, she won two beach volleyball tournaments for players no older than 18 years old - the European Championship in Brno and the World Championship in Pattaya ^[1] . In the same year she was invited to the club of the first Bundesliga Bayer 04 from Leverkusen . In the German Championship 2003/2004, her team took second place, and Ludwig herself was recognized as the best game player according to the version of Volleyball-Magazin ^[2] .

Since May 2004, she played in the sand together with Sarah Goller , whom she met while studying at the Landrat Lucas Gymnasium in Leverkusen. Their first joint success was 3rd place at the U23 European Championship in Brno, and they became 25th at the debut “adult” championship of the continent in Timmendorfer Strand . In August 2004, while training on the beach at the Olympic Center Kiel-Schilksee, Laura Ludwig suddenly felt numbness in her left arm and left half of her face. At a clinic in Kiel, doctors diagnosed a stroke . According to Laura, during her treatment, she was mentally helped by examples of other German athletes - wrestler Alexander Laipold and volleyball player Ralph Bergman , who were able to resume their careers after apoplexy strikes. A few weeks later, she again started training at Bayer, and in May 2005 returned to beach volleyball ^[3] , announcing her dream of becoming an Olympic champion ^[4] .

Thanks to the wild card, Laura Ludwig and Sarah Goller made their debut at the World Championships in June 2005 at the Palace Square in Berlin . Starting with a defeat from the Norwegians Nila-Ann Hokedal and Ingrid Thörlen , the German volleyball players then reached the third round on the losers grid and took 17th place. In August of the same year, in Myslowice, Goller and Ludwig won silver at the European Championship for players no older than 23 years old.

In 2006, the Goller / Ludwig pair became one of the leading German beach volleyball teams. They won the U23 European Championship in St. Pölten , took fourth place at the European Championships in The Hague , became the winners of the German Championship and spent the first full season on the World Tour , where they showed the best result (5th place) at the stage in Acapulco . In 2007, the climb continued - the German couple won silver at the European Championships in Valencia and twice won prizes at the stages of the World Tour. At the end of the year, Laura Ludwig was awarded the FIVB Prize for the most progressive player of the year.

A month before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games, Laura Ludwig and Sarah Goller won the European Championship in Hamburg , however, at the 2008 Games themselves they reached only the 1/8 finals, losing to Austrian sisters Doris and Stefani Schweiger in a tense three-set match. The Germans took revenge for this defeat in the decisive match of the Russian Masters Eurotour stage in Sochi and, according to the results of the season, retained first place in the European rating.

In the 2009 world ranking, Laura Ludwig and Sarah Goller climbed from 43rd place to 7th thanks to three bronze finishes during the World Tour in Brasilia , Moscow and Marseille . In the final of the European Championship , held in Sochi, the Germans quite unexpectedly beat the ninth “seeded” pair from Latvia, Inguna Minus and Inese Jurson - 2: 1 with three matchballs against Goller and Ludwig in the decisive game. The following year in Berlin, Goller and Ludwig regained the title of champions of the continent, having gained the upper hand in the decisive match over their compatriots Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Zemmler . The victory at the stages of the World Tour was still not given to them - in 2010, Goller and Ludwig took second place four times. In 2011 in Kristiansand, for the fifth time in a row, they became winners of the European Championship, but for the first time bronze. According to the results of competitions under the auspices of the FIVB, where the best result was the 2nd place in the Grand Slam tournament in Stavanger , Laura Ludwig was awarded the prize for the best in attack.

Sarah Goller and Laura Ludwig performed more successfully at the 2012 Olympic Games in London than at Beijing 2008. The German couple took second place in the group, defeated Catherine Holtwick and Ilka Zemmler in the 1/8 finals, lost to the Brazilians Juliane and Larisa in the quarterfinal and thus became the fifth in the final classification. Shortly after the end of the Olympic tournament, in September 2012, Sarah Goller, who had been playing with Ludwig for nine years, announced the end of her sports career ^[5] .

The new partner of Laura Ludwig in 2013 was Kira Walkenhorst . At the debut joint tournament, the European “satellite” in Antalya , they took second place, and during the first stage of the World Tour they were forced to withdraw due to Walkenhorst injury. During the season, they reached the quarter finals at the World Championships in Stara Jablonki , won bronze at the European Championships in Klagenfurt and became second in the Grand Slam tournaments in Moscow and Sao Paulo .

On May 4, 2014 in Shanghai, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst won the Grand Slam tournament for the first time in their careers, surpassing Wang Fan / Yue Yuan in the final match of the competition. In June, they won bronze at the European Championships in Quartu Sant Elena , and a month later their team temporarily broke up due to the fact that Walkenhorst fell ill with mononucleosis . Laura’s best result with her new partner, Julia Zude , was second in the Grand Slam tournament in Stara Yablonki .

In 2015, the reunited team Ludwig / Walkenhorst unsuccessfully performed at the World Championships in the Netherlands , losing to the Russians Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Birlova in the 1/16 finals, however, three weeks after completing the mundial at the Grand Slam tournament in Yokohama, the Germans won the title, having defeated the newly made ones in the final World champions Barbara Seyjas and Agatha Bednarchuk from Brazil, and a week later in a decisive match of the European Championship in Klagenfurt took revenge from the Russian couple. For Laura Ludwig, the gold medal of the European championship was the third in his career.

In May - June 2016, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst won the stages of the World Tour in Antalya and Hamburg , again won the gold of the European Championship, and after winning the Grand Slam tournament in Olsztyn they rose to the first line in the world ranking. A week before the start of the Olympic Games, the Germans won the stage of the World Tour in Klagenfurt .

In Rio de Janeiro, Ludwig and Walkenhorst took first place in their group, and in the playoffs they did not give a single game to their rivals and won gold Olympic medals. In the semifinals, they defeated the Brazilian women Larisa and Talita seeded in the tournament under the first number, and in the final, with a score of 21:18, 21:14, the second Brazilian duet, the current world champions Agata Bednarchuk and Barbara Seyjas ^[6] .

A month after the Olympic victory, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst won the final stage of the World Tour in Toronto . They took first place in the overall standings of the competition, and Laura was recognized as the most outstanding player in the 2015/16 World Tour ^[7] .

In December 2016, Laura Ludwig underwent shoulder surgery ^[8] , and in May 2017 returned to performances. Before the world championship in Vienna, which began in late July, her partner Kira Walkenhorst also injured her shoulder, but, according to Ludwig, the team regained the necessary rhythm through matches and increased its advantage over rivals from game to game. In the semifinals of the championship, the German duo, as in Rio 2016, turned out to be stronger than the Brazilian Larisa and Talita, and in the main match the Americans won April Ross and Lauren Fendrick - 2: 1 (19:21, 21:13, 15: 9) ^{[9 ]} . In late August, in Hamburg, the Germans won the finals of the World Tour, and Ludwig received the individual prize for the most outstanding player for the second time in a row ^[10] .

June 28, 2018 Laura Ludwig gave birth to a son ^[11] . Ten months later, she resumed her career with a new partner, Margareta Kozuh ^[12] . In June - July 2019, the wildcard team played at the home world championship in Hamburg , where they reached only the 1/16 finals, having left the further fight after losing to the Americans Sarah Hughes and Summer Ross.

• Olympic champion ( 2016 ).
• Participant of the Olympic Games 2008 (9th place) and 2012 (5th place).
• Champion of Europe (2008, 2010, 2015, 2016), silver (2007, 2009) and bronze (2011, 2013, 2014) medalist of European Championships.
• World Champion ( 2017 ). Other performances: 2005, 2007, 2015 , 2019 - 17th place; 2009, 2011 - 9th place; 2013 - 5th place.
• Prizes at the stages of the World Tour :
  • 1st - Shanghai 2014 (GS ), Yokohama-2015 (GS), Puerto Vallarta-2015, Antalya-2016, Hamburg-2016 (GS), Olsztyn-2016 (GS), Klagenfurt-2016, Toronto-2016 (final), Hamburg-2017 (final ),
  • 2nd - Espinho-2007, Brasilia-2010, Rome-2010 (GS), Gstaad-2010 (GS), Sanya-2010, Stavanger-2011 (GS), Rome-2012 (GS), Moscow-2013 (GS) , São Paulo 2013 (GS), Stare Jablonki 2014 (GS), Fort Lauderdale 2015 (final),
  • 3rd - Klagenfurt-2007 (GS), Brasilia-2009, Moscow-2009 (GS), Marseille-2009 (GS), Xiamen-2013 (GS), Prague-2014, Long Beach-2015 (GS), Gstad 2016.
• World Tour Champion (2015/16).
• European and World Champion U18 (2003).
• European champion U23 (2006), silver (2005) and bronze (2004) medalist of the European Championships U23.
• Silver medalist at the German Volleyball Championship (2003/04).
• Champion of Germany in beach volleyball (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), silver (2010, 2014) and bronze (2005, 2009) medalist of the national championships.

• Official site of Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst (German)
• Statistics on the website of the International Volleyball Federation
• Beach Volleyball Database website statistics
• Laura Ludwig - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com