SPRUNGER Lea

Date of Birth: 5 Mar 1990

Age: 31

Gender: Female

Place of birth: NYON

Birth Country:

Switzerland

Place of residence : GINGINS

Residence Country:

Switzerland

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Athletics	Women's 400m Hurdles
	Women's 4 x 400m Relay SUI Switzerland

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 400m Hurdles Round 1 - Heat 5	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 400m Hurdles Semi-Final 3	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 4 x 400m Relay Round 1 - Heat 1	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Olympic Games

Year	Location	200m	400m Hurdles	4 x 100m
2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	-	Round 1 (56.58)	-
2012	London, GBR	1R (23.27)	-	1R (43.54)

World Athletics Championships

Year	Location	400m Hurdles	4 x 100m	4 x 400m
2019	Doha, QAT	4th (54.06)	-	Heats (3:30.63)
2017	London, GBR	5th (54.59)	-	-
2015	Beijing, CHN	SF (55.83)	Heats (43.38)	-
2013	Moscow, RUS	-	Heats (43.21)	-
2011	Daegu, KOR	-	Heats (44.04)	-

World Relays

Year	Location	4 x 400m
2019	Yokohama, JPN	7th (3:32.32)

European Championships

Year	Location	400m Hurdles
2018	Berlin, GER	1st (54.33)

Diamond League overview - Three best ranks per season and event since 2017

Year	400m	400m Hurdles
2021	-	2 x 6th, 1 x 8th
2020	-	1 x 6th
2019	-	2 x 5th, 1 x 6th, 1 x 7th
2018	-	1 x 1st, 1 x 4th, 2 x 6th
2017	1 x 6th	1 x 2nd, 1 x 5th, 1 x 7th

Diamond League - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Location	Result
1	2018	400m Hurdles	Birmingham, GBR	54.86
2	2017	400m Hurdles	Lausanne, SUI	54.29
4	2018	400m Hurdles	Oslo, NOR	55.07
5	2019	400m Hurdles	Zurich, SUI	55.14
5	2019	400m Hurdles	Lausanne, SUI	55.24
5	2017	400m Hurdles	Rabat, MAR	55.22
6	2021	400m Hurdles	Gateshead, GBR	55.39
6	2021	400m Hurdles	Oslo, NOR	55.46
6	2020	400m Hurdles	Stockholm, SWE	56.40
6	2019	400m Hurdles	Monaco, MON	55.60
6	2018	400m Hurdles	Zurich, SUI	55.36
6	2018	400m Hurdles	Lausanne, SUI	54.79
6	2017	400m	Rome, ITA	51.56

World Athletics Continental Tour - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
4	2020	400m Hurdles	World Athletics Continental Tour	Szekesfehervar, HUN	56.65
4	2020	300m Hurdles	World Athletics Continental Tour	Ostrava, CZE	39.54
6	2021	400m Hurdles	World Athletics Continental Tour	Szekesfehervar, HUN	56.24

World Indoor Championships

Year	Location	400m
2018	Birmingham, GBR	SF (DQ)

Legend
SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 1R - 1st Round, Qual. - Qualification, QR - Qualification Round, DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, DQ - Disqualified, NM - No Mark, [Relay athlete without time] - Did not run in final

Lelette (schweizer-illustrierte.ch, 03 Mar 2019)

Reading, travelling, cooking, socialising, being outdoors. (Facebook page, 23 Sep 2020; coopzeitung.ch, 27 Jul 2015; schweizer-ilustrierte.ch, 14 Aug 2020)

Occupation:

Communications Management

Languages spoken:

English, French, German

COVA Nyon [Switzerland]

Laurent Meuwly [personal], SUI

Sporting relatives:

Her older sister Ellen Sprunger has represented Switzerland in athletics and competed in the 4x400m relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Her cousin Janika Sprunger has competed in equestrian jumping for Switzerland and also participated at the 2016 Games. (appenzellerzeitung.ch, 27 Feb 2013; schweizer-illustrierte.ch, 19 Aug 2018; SportsDeskOnline, 10 Feb 2020)

She sustained an Achilles tendon injury in 2020 that kept her out of training for three weeks. (aargauerzeitung.ch, 09 Jul 2020)

In late 2018, during a training camp in South Africa, she suffered a muscle problem in her back and later was affected by a virus. (aargauerzeitung.ch, 27 Aug 2019; leasprunger.ch, 13 Jan 2019)

She began athletics at age 10. She used to be a heptathlete, before turning to sprinting and hurdles. (Youtube, 01 Dec 2014; appenzellerzeitung.ch, 27 Feb 2013; rts.ch, 24 Mar 2016)

She followed her older sister Ellen into athletics, and was inspired by the idea of beating her. "I didn't want to be the smaller sister in everything." (coopzeitung.ch, 27 Jul 2015)

To win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (leasprunger.ch, 08 Jan 2020)

Since May 2019 she has trained in both Papendal, Netherlands, and Lausanne, Switzerland. When she is in the Netherlands she trains nine times a week alongside her coach Laurent Meuwly, who serves as a coach for the Dutch national athletics team. When she is in Lausanne, she trains by herself. (lacote.ch, 23 May 2019; leasprunger.ch, 30 Jun 2019, 26 May 2019; aargauerzeitung.ch, 09 Jul 2020)

Winning gold in the 400m hurdles at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, Germany. (swiss-athletics.ch, 10 Aug 2018)

Philosophy:

"Work hard in silence, let success make the noise." (Facebook page, 23 Sep 2020)

She was named Female Swiss Athlete of the Year in both 2017 and 2018. (arcinfo.ch, 04 Nov 2018; tdg.ch, 18 Nov 2017)

She received an acknowledgement from the Swiss Canton of Vaud in 2018. (vd.ch, 13 Aug 2018)

She was elected as 2015 Female Athlete of the Year in Vaud. (24heures.ch, 03 Dec 2015; Facebook page, 04 Dec 2015)

General Interest

General
RETIREMENT PLANS
She has indicated a desire to retire from competitive sport in 2021. "I had already made the decision to retire after the 2021 World Championships in Eugene [OR, United States of America]. The postponement of [the 2020 Olympic] Games in Tokyo does not change my plans. My ultimate goal is the Olympics and I just wanted to have a relaxing year afterwards and enjoy it. Now I'm doing it [relaxing] but in 2020." (leasprunger.ch, 24 Mar 2020; schweizer-ilustrierte.ch, 14 Aug 2020)

HEPTATHLON TO HURDLES
She started her career as a heptathlete, following her older sister into the event. Swiss athletics coach Laurent Meuwly convinced her to make the switch to sprinting events. In 2015 she also began competing in the hurdles. "These were changes which were made at a point when I stagnated in my career. But the switch to the hurdles will be my last change." (rts.ch, 24 Mar 2016; aargauerzeitung.ch, 31 Aug 2015; nzz.ch, 04 Oct 2019)

GREEN THUMB
She enjoys gardening and moved from Lausanne, Switzerland back to her hometown of Gingins to benefit from more open spaces. During the COVID-19 lockdown she began growing her own food. "We try to grow a lot - carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes and zucchini squashes. Living in the city was good when I was 23 to 28 years old, but now I like to be outdoors and have a garden. I'm looking forward to having time to go for walks and bicycle once I retire from sport." (schweizer-ilustrierte.ch, 14 Aug 2020)

Milestones

She became the first Swiss female athlete to win a gold medal in athletics at the European Championships, following her victory in the 400m hurdles at the 2018 edition in Berlin, Germany. (swiss-athletics.ch, 10 Aug 2018; SportDeskOnline, 10 Feb 2020)

Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/lea.sprunger?fref=ts
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Lea-Sprunger-210617815637035/
https://twitter.com/leasprunger?lang=de
Athlete Website: http://www.leasprunger.ch/

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos