KNOLL Anabel

General
FATHER AS COACH
She is coached by her father Roland, who also represented Germany in triathlon. "Every athlete wants to give something back to their parents for the effort they bring. When dad is also the coach, you want to show even more what you can do. I can't think of any other coach. But there are moments, especially after competitions, when I would sometimes wish he were more the dad and less the coach." She said that growing up she was not fully aware of her father's own triathlon career. "I have memories of a few races as a little girl where I ran across the finish line with him. Through him I learned what it means to do triathlon as a competitive sport. But my parents deliberately kept me away from it all as a child, I didn't really know what he was doing. I was very small back then and only found out later that he was very good. As a result, I did not get to know the sport from the competitive side, but was later able to develop it myself by having fun in the sport." (Instagram profile, 03 Jul 2020; triathlonbundesliga.de, 24 Sep 2020)

FURTHER EDUCATION
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in biology from Queens University of Charlotte in the United States of America, she began studying for a master's degree in biodiversity and ecology. "Sophia Saller [German triathlete] once said, 'I need my studies to balance my head'. I see that too. Otherwise I would go crazy. I need something to think about. In general, I approach it in such a way that I prefer to try to do something for university for two hours a day, instead of coming under pressure at some point and then having to do something for ten hours a day." She says that when she retires from sport, she plans to work in a field related to her studies. "I would like to work in animal and nature conservation, it would be great to work on a research project for lynxes or wolves in the Bavarian Forest National Park [in Germany]. But I also like insects." (triathlondeutschland.de, 15 May 2021)