About me

I grew up in the Black Forest, in a small village called Nordrach with around 2,000 inhabitants. Sport and adventure shaped me early on. Even as a child I was out on wilderness trips – in Canada, among other places, and on a crossing of the Alps.

A particularly formative experience came in 2015, when my father and I took on an extreme wilderness trip in the Canadian backcountry: dropped off by helicopter with nothing but the goal of finding our own way back to civilisation. That experience and many others opened my eyes and lit a fire in me to keep testing my own limits.

I started out with football but soon discovered that my real strength lay in running. At 15 I was spotted at a public road race by a coach who supported me and brought me into competitive sport. Many races followed – both in my home region and in the USA as part of my athletics scholarship.

After my psychology degree in the USA I began to focus more on adventure travel and to take on ever longer distances.