Christian Leuprecht's exciting career with a downer

Christian Leuprecht from Bolzano, born in 1971, is considered by far the greatest long-distance runner in the history of South Tyrolean athletics. The record times he set in the early 90s are almost incomprehensible to athletics insiders today. Many of these times could never be approximated in the last 30 years. But the really big results that were predicted for the protégé by successful running club coach Hans Pircher in his youth were subsequently denied him.

20 years after ending his competitive career, the Bolzano native – who now lives in Lana with his wife and two children – works as an administrative lawyer at the state health department. “I work at the arbitration board for liability issues in the health sector,” says the native of Bolzano. “This concerns applications from patients who believe that they have suffered damage to their health due to errors in diagnosis or treatment. I’m also responsible for contracts.” Law studies and teaching career After completing his law studies in Innsbruck in 1997, the Bolzano native initially had to do military service for a year. He left the running club - but continued to train under the direction of Hans Pircher - and switched to the army sports group.

Leuprecht (right) with his family.

The young lawyer found his first job in the private sector, followed by a year and a half at school (“but I’m not cut out for the teaching profession,” is his comment). In 2001 he moved to the state service and has been working in the arbitration board since 2007. Most successful in the 90s The most successful time in the long-distance runner's career was the first 90s: in the summer of 1989, at the age of 18, he won the European Junior Championship title over 29.04,06 m in Varazdin in what was then Yugoslavia in 10.000:20 minutes. In his second U1990 -Year, 10.000, he then demolished a number of Italian junior records and also the 28.22,49 m junior European record. This time, 4:31 minutes, set on September 20th in Koblenz, has not been beaten for 1991 years and is still considered the current U10.000 European record. In 27.48,07, Leuprecht set a sensational time over 1996 m, 1:01.49 minutes, at the meeting in Hengelo (Netherlands). Another highlight was the excellent half marathon time at the Stramilano race in XNUMX (XNUMX:XNUMX).

The international career came to an end with participation in the 1997 World Cross Country Championships in Stellenbosch (South Africa) and the 1997 Universiade. This year - during his military service - he ran the 5000 m in 13.45 minutes. In 1998 he managed the 21,1 km at Rome-Ostia in 1:03.50 hours.

Christian Leuprecht in action. © Christoph Blaas

Then came the end of his career: In 2000 he won the first edition of the Reschenseelauf (50.04 minutes), and in May 2002 he ran his last race at the half marathon in Trieste (1:07 hours). The daughter follows in the father's footsteps “The competitive sport was finally over. I just didn’t have the motivation,” said the 50-year-old. “I still ran, but only 140 to 50 km a week instead of 60. And these kilometers at a more leisurely pace, around 4.30:4.40 to XNUMX:XNUMX minutes per kilometer.” After a slipped disc, he recently had to limit his running sessions.

Leuprecht now has a somewhat ambivalent relationship with running, especially when it comes to doping: “I've experienced a lot in my career. The fact that all top athletes are under suspicion today is also not correct. It is certainly possible to achieve top performance cleanly.”

Christian Leuprecht with his daughter Lisa.

The Bolzano native has been back on the country's athletics fields for two years now. His daughter Lisa (2) competes in middle and long distance competitions – just like her father – and she gets stronger with each race.

“Lisa is currently being looked after by me, but as a trainer I am not an expert. I'm just trying to slow them down. At 15 she is already quite focused, but it is important not to do too much at this age. I won’t be accompanying you everywhere at the various races throughout the year, I’d like to hold back a bit.” Missed sports group opportunity It is clear to the native of Bolzano that he was not able to fulfill the great expectations that were placed on him in his career: “I was extremely successful when I was 18, 19, 20, but I was unable to confirm this in the years that followed. I'm aware. The expectations were much higher. Why I didn't make it is not so easy to explain. There are probably several reasons. Injuries occurred, and perhaps I also lacked a little motivation and ignored the psychological aspect too much. In the end it wasn't enough to achieve great results. But I don't have a problem with that. The only thing that bothers me in retrospect is the fact that I didn't switch to a sports group early on. At 18, all the sports groups were after me, I could only have chosen. But I stayed with my club until my military service. Now I have to buy back my years of study, otherwise it would have been possible to accumulate seven or eight years of retirement by 1997.”

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Christian Leuprecht's exciting career with a downer

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