Sprint ace Markus Fuchs celebrates Olympic ticket

For a long time Markus Fuchs tremble, now it is fixed: The 28-year-old sprinter has his ticket for the Summer Olympics in Paris in the bag. On the final qualification ranking list, the Lower Austrian appears in 53rd place, 54 athletes are allowed to run in Paris. “It’s unbelievable, I’m incredibly proud,” said Fuchs.

The fastest man in Austria has had a year that was anything but easy. At the European Championships in Rome, a mishap with the starting device set him back, and most recently he had to deal with an illness and therefore missed out on his tenth national championship title in a row: “I am sure that there is more in me than I have shown so far this year,” Fuchs says confidently.

There are still around five weeks until the Olympics, and Fuchs will use this time to get back in shape. “First I want to get completely healthy and have a medical check-up. Then I’ll do a two to three week training block with my trainer Patrick Saile in Zurich,” he says. Things will get really serious on August 3, when the preliminary round of the 100 meters takes place.