Heike Meissner
Encyclopedia
Heike Meißner is a retired German
athlete. She competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles
, but also spent two seasons specializing in the 800 metres
. Notable achievements include a silver medal at the 2002 European Championships
, medals in 4 x 400 metres relay
at the 1994 European Championships
and the 1997 World Indoor Championships
and a fourth place at the 1995 World Championships
.
She won the 400 metres hurdles bronze medal at the 1989 European Junior Championships. She also helped win the 4 x 400 m relay with the East German team.
Her first World Championships participation came in 1991
. Here, she finished seventh in the 400 m hurdles
. At her first Olympic Games in 1992 she only reached the semi-final of the 400 m hurdles
competition, but finished sixth in the 4 x 400 m relay
with teammates Uta Rohländer
, Linda Kisabaka
and Anja Rücker
. At the 1993 World Championships
Meißner finished third in her semi-final heat, but this was not enough to reach the final round. Instead she competed once more on the 4 x 400 m relay
team, finishing fifth with Sandra Seuser
, Anja Rucker and Linda Kisabaka. The same year, however, Meißner competed at the 1993 Summer Universiade
and won a gold medal in the 400 m hurdles. She beat Debbie-Ann Parris of Jamaica with a margin of only 0.01 seconds.
In 1994 Meißner competed at the European Championships
. She finished fourth in the individual distance, 0.11 seconds behind Russian Anna Knoroz who won the bronze medal. In the 4 x 400 m relay she won her first medal at a major international competition, finishing third with teammates Karin Janke
, Uta Rohländer and Anja Rücker. The next year she repeated her achievements from the previous years. She once again finished fourth at a major competition, this time at the 1995 World Championships
. She also won the 1995 Summer Universiade
, this time with a comfortable margin.
The next Olympic Games were held in 1996
in Atlanta. She finished sixth in 400 m hurdles
, as the best European athlete. Unlike the 1993 Universiade, she finished 0.06 seconds behind fourth-placed Debbie-Ann Parris. The medalists ran in the range of 52.8-53.2 seconds, whereas Meißner ran in a career best time of 54.03 seconds. This result ranks her fourth among German 400 m hurdlers through all time, behind Sabine Busch
, Cornelia Ullrich
and Ellen Fiedler
. Her success continued at the 1997 World Indoor Championships
, where she won a bronze medal in the relay, this time with Anja Rücker, Anke Feller
and Grit Breuer
. Meißner ran the third leg. She did not compete in any individual distance as the 400 metres hurdles is not contested during the indoor season.
However, the next season she competed internationally in the 800 metres. She finished sixth at the 1998 European Championships
,1998 European Championships, women's results - Sporting Heroes and as the best German she was selected to represent her country at the 1998 World Cup event in Johannesburg. She placed seventh with the mediocre time of 2:04.50 minutes. At the Weltklasse Zürich
meet in August she had run the 800 metres in 1:59.50 minutes; this was her career best time. She did not give priority to the hurdles in 1998, with 56.05 seconds as her season's best time.
She decided to continue specializing in the 800 metres in 1999, but fared worse in both events with season's best times of 2:00.76 minutes and 56.29 seconds respectively. She then reverted to the hurdles. She was soon back in the 54-second range, running in 54.84 seconds in July 2000. Third qualified her for the 2000 Olympic Games
, but she only reached the semi-final there. In 2002, however, she returned to the medal podium as she won the silver medal at the 2002 European Championships
with a time of 55.89 seconds. As in 1998, this achievement qualified her to represent Germany at the 2002 World Cup
, where she finished seventh. The same year she ran the distance of 400 metres
without hurdles at the ISTAF meet in Berlin, finishing in 53.19 seconds. This equalled the personal best mark she had achieved during the 2001 indoor season.
The main goal for the 2003 season was the 2003 World Championships
in Paris. She ran a season's best time of 55.00 seconds in the heats, but did not repeat this in the final round and finished seventh with 55.60 seconds. She retired from professional athletics following this season.
Meißner represented the sports clubs SC Einheit Dresden, Dresdner SC
, SC Magdeburg
and LAC Erdgas Chemnitz during her active career. In the 400 metres hurdles she became East German champion in 1990 and German champion in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2001 and 2002. In addition she became German indoor champion in the 400 metres in 1994 and in the 800 metres in 1995, 1997 and 1998.
Meißner is 1.72 metres tall; during her active career she weighed 55 kilograms.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
athlete. She competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles
400 metres hurdles
The 400 metres hurdles is an Olympic athletics event in track and field. On a standard outdoor track 400 metres is the length of the inside lane once around the stadium. Runners stay in their lane the entire way after starting out of the blocks and must clear ten hurdles that are evenly...
, but also spent two seasons specializing in the 800 metres
800 metres
The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...
. Notable achievements include a silver medal at the 2002 European Championships
2002 European Championships in Athletics
The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...
, medals in 4 x 400 metres relay
4 x 400 metres relay
The 4 x 400 meters relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams comprise four runners who each complete 400 meters or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first 500 meters is run in lanes...
at the 1994 European Championships
1994 European Championships in Athletics
The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland.-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:...
and the 1997 World Indoor Championships
1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault...
and a fourth place at the 1995 World Championships
1995 World Championships in Athletics
The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden between August 5 and August 13.This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nations....
.
She won the 400 metres hurdles bronze medal at the 1989 European Junior Championships. She also helped win the 4 x 400 m relay with the East German team.
Her first World Championships participation came in 1991
1991 World Championships in Athletics
The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1 and athletes from 167 countries participated in the event.The event is best-remembered for the...
. Here, she finished seventh in the 400 m hurdles
1991 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 400 metre hurdles
These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres Hurdles event at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. There were a total number of 33 participating athletes, with five qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Thursday August 29, 1991.-Schedule:*All times are...
. At her first Olympic Games in 1992 she only reached the semi-final of the 400 m hurdles
Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre hurdles
These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.-Medalists:-Records:These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.-Final:...
competition, but finished sixth in the 4 x 400 m relay
Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 x 400 metre relay
These are the official results of the women's 4 x 400 metres relay event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total of fourteen nations competing.-Medalists:* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.-Records:...
with teammates Uta Rohländer
Uta Rohländer
Uta Rohländer, married Fromm is a retired German sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay with her teammates Linda Kisabaka, Anja Rücker and Grit Breuer.Her personal best time is 50.33 seconds, achieved in...
, Linda Kisabaka
Linda Kisabaka
Linda Kisabaka is a retired German middle distance runner. She ran the 400 metres until 1996, when she began specializing in the 800 metres. She retired in 2001, having represented the sports clubs Bayer 04 Leverkusen and LAZ Leipzig during her active career.Her personal best time is 1:58.24...
and Anja Rücker
Anja Rücker
Anja Rücker is a retired German sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay with her teammates Uta Rohländer, Linda Kisabaka and Grit Breuer...
. At the 1993 World Championships
1993 World Championships in Athletics
The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart, Germany between August 13 and August 22 with the participation of 187 nations....
Meißner finished third in her semi-final heat, but this was not enough to reach the final round. Instead she competed once more on the 4 x 400 m relay
1993 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 4 x 400 metres relay
These are the official results of the Women's 4x400 metres event at the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Their final was held on Sunday 1993-08-22.-Final:-Heat 1:-Heat 2:-See also:* 1988 Women's Olympic 4x400m Relay...
team, finishing fifth with Sandra Seuser
Sandra Seuser
Sandra Maria Seuser is a retired German sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.At the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Seville Seuser helped win the gold medal in an indoor world record time of 3:27.22 minutes. Her teammates were Katrin Schreiter, Annett Hesselbarth and Grit Breuer...
, Anja Rucker and Linda Kisabaka. The same year, however, Meißner competed at the 1993 Summer Universiade
1993 Summer Universiade
The 1993 Summer Universiade, also known as the XVII Summer Universiade, took place in Buffalo, New York, United States of America.-Medal table:-External links:*...
and won a gold medal in the 400 m hurdles. She beat Debbie-Ann Parris of Jamaica with a margin of only 0.01 seconds.
In 1994 Meißner competed at the European Championships
1994 European Championships in Athletics
The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland.-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:...
. She finished fourth in the individual distance, 0.11 seconds behind Russian Anna Knoroz who won the bronze medal. In the 4 x 400 m relay she won her first medal at a major international competition, finishing third with teammates Karin Janke
Karin Janke
Karin Janke is a retired German sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. She represented the sports club VfL Wolfsburg.-Achievements:-References:...
, Uta Rohländer and Anja Rücker. The next year she repeated her achievements from the previous years. She once again finished fourth at a major competition, this time at the 1995 World Championships
1995 World Championships in Athletics
The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden between August 5 and August 13.This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nations....
. She also won the 1995 Summer Universiade
1995 Summer Universiade
The 1995 Summer Universiade, also known as the XVIII Summer Universiade, took place in Fukuoka, Japan.-Emblem:The symbol mark is a motif of "U", expressing passion and energy in the flickering flames of a burning torch...
, this time with a comfortable margin.
The next Olympic Games were held in 1996
Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 20 by women. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.-Men:...
in Atlanta. She finished sixth in 400 m hurdles
Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre hurdles
These are the official results of the Women's 400m Hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total of 30 competitors.-Final:-Semi finals:-Non-qualifiers:-See also:*Men's 400m Hurdles*Women's 100m Hurdles...
, as the best European athlete. Unlike the 1993 Universiade, she finished 0.06 seconds behind fourth-placed Debbie-Ann Parris. The medalists ran in the range of 52.8-53.2 seconds, whereas Meißner ran in a career best time of 54.03 seconds. This result ranks her fourth among German 400 m hurdlers through all time, behind Sabine Busch
Sabine Busch
Sabine Busch is a retired East German athlete who specialized in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. She was born in Erfurt.At the 1982 European Championships she finished fourth in the 400 metres hurdles, but won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay together with teammates Kirsten...
, Cornelia Ullrich
Cornelia Ullrich
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1988-0604-007, Cornelia Ulrich, Susanne Losch.jpg Cornelia Ullrich, née Feuerbach is a retired East German hurdler...
and Ellen Fiedler
Ellen Fiedler
Ellen Fiedler, is a German hurdler.She won the bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, in a career best time of 53.63 seconds...
. Her success continued at the 1997 World Indoor Championships
1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault...
, where she won a bronze medal in the relay, this time with Anja Rücker, Anke Feller
Anke Feller
Anke Feller is a retired German sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.Her personal best time is 51.82 seconds, achieved in July 1999 in Erfurt.-Achievements:-References:...
and Grit Breuer
Grit Breuer
Grit Breuer is a former East German athlete, who competed in the women's 200m, 400m, 4x100m, and 4x400m events....
. Meißner ran the third leg. She did not compete in any individual distance as the 400 metres hurdles is not contested during the indoor season.
However, the next season she competed internationally in the 800 metres. She finished sixth at the 1998 European Championships
1998 European Championships in Athletics
The 17th European Athletics Championships were held from 18 August to 23 August 1998 in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:...
,1998 European Championships, women's results - Sporting Heroes and as the best German she was selected to represent her country at the 1998 World Cup event in Johannesburg. She placed seventh with the mediocre time of 2:04.50 minutes. At the Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich is an annual track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. One of the first large-scale international athletics events , it is sometimes referred to as the one day...
meet in August she had run the 800 metres in 1:59.50 minutes; this was her career best time. She did not give priority to the hurdles in 1998, with 56.05 seconds as her season's best time.
She decided to continue specializing in the 800 metres in 1999, but fared worse in both events with season's best times of 2:00.76 minutes and 56.29 seconds respectively. She then reverted to the hurdles. She was soon back in the 54-second range, running in 54.84 seconds in July 2000. Third qualified her for the 2000 Olympic Games
Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...
, but she only reached the semi-final there. In 2002, however, she returned to the medal podium as she won the silver medal at the 2002 European Championships
2002 European Championships in Athletics
The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...
with a time of 55.89 seconds. As in 1998, this achievement qualified her to represent Germany at the 2002 World Cup
2002 IAAF World Cup
The 9th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was hosted by Madrid, September 21–22, 2002, in the Estadio La Peineta...
, where she finished seventh. The same year she ran the distance of 400 metres
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400 metre dash, is a common sprinting event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 . On a standard outdoor running track, it is exactly one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and...
without hurdles at the ISTAF meet in Berlin, finishing in 53.19 seconds. This equalled the personal best mark she had achieved during the 2001 indoor season.
The main goal for the 2003 season was the 2003 World Championships
2003 World Championships in Athletics
The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...
in Paris. She ran a season's best time of 55.00 seconds in the heats, but did not repeat this in the final round and finished seventh with 55.60 seconds. She retired from professional athletics following this season.
Meißner represented the sports clubs SC Einheit Dresden, Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...
, SC Magdeburg
SC Magdeburg
SC Magdeburg is a German multi-sports club located in the city of Magdeburg, which offers athletics, canoeing, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and team handball. Historically, the club has also had a water polo section as well as a football section that was separated that as 1. FC Magdeburg in 1965...
and LAC Erdgas Chemnitz during her active career. In the 400 metres hurdles she became East German champion in 1990 and German champion in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2001 and 2002. In addition she became German indoor champion in the 400 metres in 1994 and in the 800 metres in 1995, 1997 and 1998.
Meißner is 1.72 metres tall; during her active career she weighed 55 kilograms.