Career
Friedrich won the gold medal at the 2003 European Junior Championships, the bronze medal at the 2005 Summer Universiade, silver at the 2007 Summer Universiade and the gold medal at the 2009 Summer Universiade.
The 2008 indoor season saw significant improvement in Friedrich's clearances: she improved her best by 8 cm during the period, clearing two metres for the first time and setting her top mark at 2.02 m. Her coach noted that these achievements were due to her improved work ethic and focus. She finished eighth at the 2008 World Indoor Championships and took seventh in the high jump final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Her 2009 indoor season started strongly with a win at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships in a jump of 2.01 m. Her outdoor season started with a personal best jump of 2.06 metres in June 2009 at the Internationales Stadionfest, breaking Heike Henkel's outdoor national record of 2.05 m, and she won another gold at the 2009 European Team Championships later that month. She gained a complete set of Universiade medals in July when she finally won the gold at the 2009 Summer Universiade.
Ariane Friedrich won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. She reflected that the public pressure for her to become world champion had placed her under much stress. However, she was very happy at having achieved a jump of 2.02 m for third place behind Blanka Vlašić and Anna Chicherova. Friedrich missed the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships due to a knee injury and instead set her sights on medalling at the 2010 European Athletics Championships. She jumped 2.01 m at the European Championships in Barcelona, but she was beaten by Vlašić (who equalled the championship record) and also by Emma Green on count-back, leaving her with the bronze medal. She became the first German woman to win at the Internationales Hochsprung-Meeting Eberstadt a month later.
On December 22, 2010 she ruptured her left Achilles tendon during training and will be ruled out of the entire 2011 season including the World Championships in Daegu.
Read more about this topic: Ariane Friedrich
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