From sailing to kiting: Leonie Meyer - mum with a lion's heart on course for the Olympics

The first name Leonie stands for "the lioness", "the strong one", "the fighter". The name could not have been more fitting for Leonie Meyer. The 29-year-old is not only a "power woman to the power of three" as an Olympic kiteboarder with strong medal ambitions for Marseille 2024, as her team-mate Flo Gruber recently attested. The fact that Leonie Meyer has now returned to the top ten in the world in ninth place at the Formula Kite World Championship off Sardinia after extremely challenging years and an untimely coronavirus infection was a minor sensation under the given circumstances.

From top sailor to world-class kiter: Leonie Meyer is an Olympic athlete, mother and doctor

To put this in context, it is important to know that this Leonie Meyer became a mother last year in May, at the same time as doing competitive sport, and completed her demanding medical studies at Kiel University in the autumn. Her study and performance days rarely ended before midnight. Alongside her studies, she was always working in surgery. She passed her second state examination in autumn 2021.

The triple programme of child, sport and studies placed enormous demands on the athlete. As a result, she suffered setbacks in sport. She commented on Kiel Week 2021: "I didn't expect it to catapult me as far back as it has now. The level in our discipline has risen enormously."

Here is a clip with Leonie Meyer from her toughest year in 2021, in which she studied, became a mother and still competed in sport at the highest level. For this, she was named Sports Scholarship Holder of the Year by the German Sports Aid Foundation as an exemplary athlete.

Since the turn of the year, Leonie Meyer has been focussing mainly on her return to the top of the kiteboarding world. Her partner Darian, her parents Sabine and Rolf Meyer and friends are providing the likeable kiter with enormous support along the way. Over the past year, she has lived in the Vantour van for more than 250 days, adapting the rhythm of her life to competitive sport. Her 17-month-old son Levi is usually travelling with her. In March, Leonie Meyer said while on assignment off Mallorca: "If the day starts in the rain but ends with good training, sunshine and a happy baby waiting for me on the beach, then that's a wonderful day for me."

The coronavirus infection came at an inopportune time

Mum Leonie is flying to the USA with Levi next week for an operation and will stay there for four months, focusing on her son's recovery, regenerating and training. Shortly before departure, the usually dynamic fighter is exceptionally on the edge of her strength this week.

The World Championships demanded everything and more from her because she had been struck down by a coronavirus infection shortly beforehand. Just recovered and only halfway through, the kiteboarder had to fight even harder than usual at the World Championships. After all, the summit competition of the year was also about the important place in the national sailing team squad, which she does not yet have.

She needs this support for the future, because Olympic campaigns are otherwise difficult or impossible to finance. Leonie Meyer, who lives in Kiel, also had a lot of support from her home club, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. The fact that she made it to the World Championship final of the top ten despite the coronavirus pandemic and a star-studded line-up cannot be overestimated. Click here for the World Championship results for men and women.

While Germany's best men Flo Gruber and Jannis Maus fell somewhat short of their own expectations with eleventh and 16th place, but are also among the medal candidates for Marseille - and not just according to coach Jan Hauke Erichsen - Meyer only had to wait until the semi-finals. Viewers of the live broadcast were impressed to see how fast Leonie Meyer was travelling on her Chubanga board with Flysurfer kite. At the end of the thrilling semi-final races, it was the physical strain, small mistakes and lapses in concentration such as a wrong barrel rounding "that I would otherwise never have made" that cost her a much better placing.

Meyer's first reaction: "I'm so annoyed. I was travelling so fast. Under normal circumstances, I should have dominated the semi-final." The good thing about this is the self-confidence with which Leonie Meyer is now back in action. She says without airs and graces: "I belong among the world's best." And she also has a sense of humour. Referring to the body kilos required for her sport, she recently wrote under "Looking for a partner": "Well, Nutella, how about it?"

"Leo Löwenherz": off to the USA in winter, chasing medals in the coming season

Her summary: "The World Championships were a battle with great competitors and even greater friends, but also a battle against fatigue, illness and plans that didn't work out. I could be proud of this ninth place and maybe I will be soon. But for now I'm still disappointed that I was third on day four and then dropped back." Leonie Meyer is happy with her entire team, who are supporting her on her ascent. She says that her coaches Alexey Chiboz and the Spanish 49er Olympic champion Iker Martinez have played a big part in her success this season. She would like to continue working with both of them in the future.

While Germany's best iQFoiler Sebastian Kördel is still fighting for the world championship crown in the new Olympic windsurfing discipline this week until Saturday off Brest after a strong performance so far, Leonie Meyer is now heading to the USA for the winter. She will return in the 2023 pre-Olympic season and show where she stands as "Leo Löwenherz". The highlight will be the Allianz Sailing World Championship for all ten Olympic sailing disciplines, which is held every four years in The Hague in the summer. This now also includes the best iQFoilers and kiters under the umbrella of the German Sailing Association (DSV) - with Leonie Meyer at the female helm.