- Elite sports funding from the “Tipico Champion Fund” for 62 athletes across more than 30 disciplines – including Oliver Zeidler, Johanna Recktenwald, and Alina Böhm.
- An independent panel of former world-class athletes selected recipients from nearly 100 applications.
- Funding is tailored to individual needs: from recovery measures and performance diagnostics to sports psychology support and mental training.
- Karin Orgeldinger, Deutsche Sporthilfe Board Member for Athlete Funding: ”The tremendous response highlights just how important such an offering is for our athletes.”
Olympic rowing champion Oliver Zeidler, Paralympic swimming champion Josia Topf, Para-Biathlon World Champion Johanna Recktenwald and Judo European Champion Alina Böhm are among a total of 62 athletes to be the first beneficiaries of the new “Tipico Champion Fund”. The individual funding programme, established as part of the partnership between Sporthilfe and the “Tipico Champion Initiative”, will from now on support Germany’s elite athletes with tailored projects on their path to further international success.
Through the “Tipico Champion Fund”, Deutsche Sporthilfe enables targeted individual funding, filling a critical gap in existing support programmes. The athletes’ funded projects range from recovery measures and performance diagnostics, to costume design for figure skating competitions, to sports psychology support and mental training. Beneficiaries include medal winners at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and World Championships, as well as athletes competing in non-Olympic disciplines.
Quotes on funding through the “Tipico Champion Fund”:
Olympic rowing champion Oliver Zeidler says: “Behind every Olympic medal lies far more than daily training. It is often the additional elements – in areas such as recovery, performance diagnostics, or sports science support – that make the difference. This new individual funding offer gives athletes the opportunity to implement such measures and invest directly in their own performance development. The fact that Deutsche Sporthilfe and the ‘Tipico Champion Initiative’ are walking this path together is a major win for many athletes.”
Emma Weiß, freestyle skier and two-time Olympic competitor in ski aerials: “For more than 20 years, I have been the only German athlete competing internationally in freestyle aerials. This makes my situation not only athletically demanding but also enormously challenging financially and logistically. Thanks to the support from Deutsche Sporthilfe and the ‘Tipico Champion Fund,’ I can now practice new jumps with my coach on the water ramp and incorporate them in my competition routines. For me, this individual funding is far more than financial support – it is a vote of confidence and an opportunity to unlock my potential even further.”
Karin Orgeldinger, Deutsche Sporthilfe Board Member for Athlete Funding: “With the ‘Tipico Champion Fund,’ we are enabling a form of support that Deutsche Sporthilfe has championed for many years: targeted, project-based assistance for elite athletes based on the specific demands of high-performance sport. This is an important step for athlete funding in Germany. The tremendous response of around 100 applications to the call for proposals highlights just how important such an offering is for our athletes. With the ‘Tipico Champion Fund,’ we are closing a critical funding gap and creating additional opportunities to enable world-class athletic performance on the road to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to World and European Championships. We are very grateful to the ‘Tipico Champion Initiative’ for making this possible.”
Matthias Folkmann, spokesperson for the “Tipico Champion Initiative”, says: “Behind elite athletic performance lie many years of hard work, discipline, perseverance, and the willingness to continually push one’s own limits. These athletes deserve our highest regard and must be actively supported – because victories do not come for free. We are very proud to be making our contribution alongside Deutsche Sporthilfe and the ‘Tipico Champion Fund’.”
Among the athletes receiving funding from the “Tipico Champion Fund” this year are (in alphabetical order):
- Moritz Augestein, track cycling
- Daniel Blintsov and Diana Lust, acrobatic gymnastics
- Alina Böhm, judo
- Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, figure skating
- Helen Kevric, artistic gymnastics
- Leonie Müller, boxing
- Tatjana Paller, ski mountaineering
- Johanna Recktenwald, Para-Nordic skiing
- Josia Topf, Para-swimming
- Emma Weiß, ski aerials
- Moritz Wolff, rowing
- Oliver Zeidler, rowing
Funding decisions were made – following approval from the respective national sports federation – by Deutsche Sporthilfe’s review panel, composed of volunteer former world-class athletes. The panel includes Paralympic swimming champion Kirsten Bruhn, Olympic champions Olaf Heukrodt (canoe sprint) and Frank Wieneke (judo), former World Champions Steffi Nerius (athletics), Mark Warnecke (swimming), and Miriam Vogt (alpine skiing), former national rugby player Till Behnke, Olaf Tabor as representative of the DOSB, and, as permanent guests, representatives of the Federal Chancellery and the association “Athleten Deutschland”.
Recipients receive targeted individual funding as well as expert guidance. Deutsche Sporthilfe coordinates the use of funds and supports athletes throughout the entire funding period. The aim is to support projects efficiently and with minimal bureaucracy – projects that contribute to high-performance athletic development and complement existing funding programmes. The selection of 62 athletes from more than 30 different disciplines marks the beginning of the first annual funding cycle under the partnership between the “Tipico Champion Initiative” and Deutsche Sporthilfe.
About the Tipico Champion Initiative
The “Tipico Champion Initiative” is a project of the Tipico Group and forms part of the company’s social engagement. It supports excellence, performance, and determination, backing Germany’s elite athletes on their path to the top of the world. Together with Deutsche Sporthilfe, it supports the “Tipico Champion Fund” as a “National Sponsor”, providing targeted promotion of world-class athletic achievement.stützt sie, als „Nationaler Förderer“, den „Tipico Champion Fonds“, der gezielt sportliche Spitzenleistungen fördert.
