Karl Loebe shapes as future star athlete in Whanganui

German exchange student Karl Loebe has improved substantially since joining the Whanganui High School athletics programme less than a year ago.
Photo / Supplied

Whanganui may not ultimately be able to claim promising athlete Karl Loebe, but can certainly lay claim to be a major influence in his burgeoning career.

The young German athlete, who turned 16 just last week, is on exchange at Whanganui High School and the promise he has shown on the track has been exciting to say the least.

Loebe has been in Whangaui for seven and a half months and returns home to Hamburg in July, but a lot can happen in a year.

He chose New Zealand for its beauty remembered from a previous trip, and Whanganui High School for its athletics programme and French language course.

"I remember New Zealand for its beauty and friendly people from when I was here before and I knew Whanganui was a great place for athletics," Loebe said.

"Karl was already showing huge promise as an athlete in his homeland before the exchange and had won a German Under-16 800m title before coming here," Whanganui High School coach Greg Fromont said.

"He came here thinking he would be a quite a lot faster than guys his age in New Zealand and in Whanganui - he soon found out he wasn't and that surprised him. Karl has taken it well and has developed immensely since arriving. I think he was leaning toward a career as a decathlete because he didn't see himself running the times to be an 800m athlete."

Loebe conceded that had been the case, but was now changing his mind.

"I'm now leaning toward being a runner because I am getting faster," Loebe said.

And he has certainly been posting some exceptional times for one so young.

At last week's Whanganui Secondary Schools Championships Loebe won the intermediate boys' 800m in 1.59.15 and that was just .2 of a second outside the qualifying time he needs to compete at the German Nationals on his return home later this year.

Loebe also won the Intermediate Boys 100m Hurdles (15.01s), the Discus (37.34m) and the Javelin (39.58m) suggesting he was still a potentially top class decathlete in the making.

Loebe said there were some similarities between New Zealand and German training regimes.

"Some of it is the same or similar, but here there a lot more drills here. I like the culture at Whanganui High School and the competition, both at school and at club nights."

"I soon found there are some pretty fast guys here, even the intermediate guys are way faster than I would find in Germany."

"My next big meeting is the North Island Championships on April 6-7, so I'm focused on that and then the German nationals when I arrive home," Loebe said.

Athletics Whanganui and Whanganui Collegiate coach Alec McNab said with Loebe so close to qualifying time for his homeland nationals for 800m, it was likely the club would provide an opportunity for him to run the time required, possibly next week at Cooks Gardens.

"Karl has an opportunity to qualify at the North Islands, but we may also provide a chance on club night next week. We have the runners here to push and help make that happen," McNab said.

"He shows real potential as a decathlete and produced some stunning all-round performances at Whanganui Secondary Schools. His win in the 800m last week, in my opinion, was the best individual under-16 boy's performance of the day. Like many young German's he has been well coached technically," McNab said.

By Iain Hyndman
Whanganui Chronicle 21/3/19