More than 3,000 sports journalists chose biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, Nordic combined athlete Johannes Rydzek, and the beach volleyball Olympic champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst as this year’s winners in Baden-Baden.

“For me, these brief moments of exaltation and honor are confirmation of how important our commitment to the German Sports Aid Foundation is,” Schares said. “Because behind the scenes, the daily life of most of the athletes receiving funding is defined by the enormous challenge of trying to combine top-level sport, education and a profession. This is why AS+P supports the initiative Stepping Stone to the Future – Sports & Career”. By way of short internships it enables high-performance athletes to gain valuable insights into professional life, which because of their tight schedules with lots of training sessions and competition stages would otherwise not be possible. This way the athletes can develop in line with their interests and talents, establish important contacts and gain an initial understanding of a particular sector. As such, AS+P plays an important part in improved career prospects for Germany’s top athletes.