Alica Schmidt - German track star & ‘World’s Sexiest Athlete’ chasing Tokyo 2020 dreams
German 400m runner Alica Schmidt has had the name ‘World’s Sexiest Athlete’ bestowed upon her by some salivating sections of the media. The young athlete has expressed hopes to be an outside chance for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The leggy, blonde middle-distance has become the darling of the German youth athletics set up and already secured a big bucks sponsorship with sportswear giant Puma, the same sponsor as Jamaican track legend Usain Bolt, and was given the title ‘World’s Sexiest Track and Field Athlete’ in 2017.
Although Australian magazine ‘Busted Coverage’ - known for its slant on sexy rather than successful athletes - were first to dub the middle distance runner from Deutschland ‘World’s Sexiest Athlete’, the Berliner has pedigree to go with her pretty face.
Training out of the SCC Berlin in the German capital, Schmidt first came to public prominence by helping Germany take silver in 4x400 relay at the European Athletics Under-20 Championships two years ago.
In 2019, Schmidt carried on her success by helping the national quartet to the U23 European Championships bronze in the same event in Gävle, Sweden, and is aiming to be an outside chance for qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics next summer.
But headlines that the Upper Rhine-born runner is ‘set to shine at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics' are perhaps more than a little premature, as the athlete herself acknowledges she is still only a novice in her disciplines.
She has a way to go to match compatriot, the legendary Marita Koch, whose 400m world record of 47.6 seconds set in 1985 still stands to this day, and who also still holds the national 200m record of 21.71 seconds, two of Schmidt's favored events.
Nevertheless, Schmidt has turned heads in the sporting world, and secured a Puma sponsorship and consistently treats her more than half a million followers on Instagram, to podium place posts on and off the track while training with the brand.
Her profile has attracted other well-known media figures and Schmidt has already rejected a request to pose for Playboy, and is adamant her track endeavors, although frankly unlike herself oftentimes, come in first place.
"I do not know why I got this title," a bewildered Schmidt said about her surprise moniker. "Sport comes clearly first," she added.
"There are thousands of girls on Instagram who look good and still do not have as many fans. makes you interesting, and that's just competitive sport for me."
Schmidt's profile grew from 17,000 to over half a million and now the young runner styles herself as an influencer in concurrence with her athletics career, as pictures from her profile periodically go viral as her popularity grows.
Her exploits have even spawned fan pages on Twitter and Facebook with thousands of followers. But whether her success online will carry over onto the track is another matter, as the standard will be considerably high ahead of Tokyo.
While she looks more set to pump it on the track with Puma than pose for Playboy, Schmidt will no doubt turn heads in any sporting arena, although chasing her dream of Tokyo 2020 looks set to take the outside track.
