Holidays 2024
Just a quick reflection: How sports stars celebrate Christmas
Looking forward to the Christ child with his daughter: ski jumper Karl Geiger. photo
© Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/dpa
Short training breaks, a little family time, good food: This is how the top athletes plan their holidays. For most it’s a balancing act.
In the last contemplative hours before Karl Geiger even meets the Christ Child during the Four Hills Tournament. For the ski jumping star, spending time with his three-year-old daughter is a welcome change before the peak of the season – and a completely different kind of challenge.
“We also have the Christ child coming. You have to make sure that you do it in such a way that they don’t see it when you hide the presents,” says Geiger.
Like the 30-year-old from Oberstdorf, many sports stars spend the holidays, which are usually a balancing act between contemplation and training. Many top athletes have little opportunity for feasting and leisure. “There are no rest days in rowing, that’s the thing. Eat, celebrate, but also train,” says rowing world champion Oliver Zeidler. The 27-year-old doesn’t want to take a break over the Christmas period for his big goal: the Olympics in Paris.
Special holidays for Angelique Kerber
Tennis star Angelique Kerber has to leave the family again on Christmas Day and make her way to Australia. There she will start her comeback season with the German selection and alongside Alexander Zverev on December 30th in Sydney at the United Cup, a mixed competition.
Kerber became a mother this year and is therefore particularly looking forward to the holidays. “I think it will be a completely different Christmas feeling than all the years before. That’s why it’s super important for me to really enjoy this feeling,” says the 35-year-old.
She is planning Christmas Eve with her ten-month-old daughter Liana with her family in Poland. “We all sit together and have a good time. We eat carp on Christmas Eve, that’s a Polish tradition,” reveals Kerber.
Short breaks for Dauser and the hockey world champions
Gymnastics world champion Lukas Dauser has also prescribed a short family feel-good program. First a visit to his in-laws in Berlin, then to Munich to see his sister – that’s Dauser’s plan. “It’s always a nice time because it’s just quiet and contemplative,” says the 30-year-old. Between the years, however, he will “definitely” train again, assures the athlete of the year.
Hockey world champion Mats Grambusch also swears by discipline. “Unfortunately, I can’t enjoy cookies and mulled wine every day. We are professional athletes and have intensive training sessions and individual training plans during the days,” says the captain of the German national team. As a young father of a daughter, Grambusch is particularly looking forward to the days at home this year.
Winter sports enthusiasts in stress of deadlines
Some winter sports enthusiasts are plagued by everyday problems between the World Cup and Christmas stress. “It’s not that easy to get presents when you’re on the go so much. But luckily there’s also online shopping,” says biathlete Sophia Schneider.
Once all the presents have been purchased, the only question that remains is: What’s on the table? “We have the same thing every year: chicken and fries, with a salad,” says ski jumper Katharina Schmid. World Cup overall leader Stefan Kraft also wants to “eat well with the family”.
Before the trip to the Four Hills Tournament, “you can drink a glass of wine and spend two comfortable days in which you don’t think much about ski jumping,” assures the 30-year-old Austrian. Soon enough the contemplation will be over for Kraft.