An emotional sporting year comes to an end

Patrizia van der Weken

Patrizia van der Weken, for instance, enjoyed much success in 2024, and was recognised as Sportswoman of the Year. A well-deserved award for her and her trainer, Arno Stark, who has been named Coach of the Year.

Stark's responsibilities go beyond setting up training schemes: "There's also a lot of work involved in managing the athlete as a whole, whether it's psychological, travelling to competitions, or managing emotions during competitions. So there are a lot of things surrounding the athlete that the coach has to manage."

Van der Weken sees her coach as an essential part to her success: "I can run well thanks to Arno. He shows up to training every day, spends a lot of time thinking about how to optimise my performance, both in quality and time."

Already at the beginning of the year, hopes and assumptions about an extraordinary sporting season surfaced when van der Weken set up a national record (at the time a world record in indoor running). The 24-year-old missed the bronze medal by a hundredth of a second at the European Championship, but pushed forward ahead of the Olympics in Paris. Here, too, she missed her qualification into the finals by six hundredths of a second.

"I think I did my best, represented Luxembourg well, and showed the audience that people from our small country also have potential. Most of all, I hope that my work has inspired and motivated others to go a similar way," she reflects.

The cherry on top this year, however, were the finals at the prestigious Diamond League tournament, in which van der Weken came fifth. In any case, her sporting agenda is much busier than that of her coach, who himself was member of the French national team.

Tom Habscheid

Another sporting icon in Luxembourg this year is Tom Habscheid, who did not only receive a medal at the Paralympics, but was also named Sportsman of the Year: A special honour for him and para-sport in Luxembourg.

The Tokyo Paralympics left him so disappointed over his fourth place, that Habscheid felt there was no alternative but to come back stronger. Indeed, he swapped the six-kilogram weight for a 100-kilogram one. Two to three times a week over the next three years, the Luxembourgish sportsman trained at Koerich Strongman.

"Every time I'm training, I have to somehow see to it that I can do as much as a normal person. That is yet another challenge, but I find a lot of fun in challenging myself," Habscheid adds.

At the same time, he couldn't fully resist the allure of international competitions, where by accident he was drawn back to his six-kilogram boulder. Just for fun, he participated in a shot put competition to a standard needed for the Paris Paralympics. Naturally, this led to a period of intense training and organisation.

"I have a wife and kids now, which is why I need to organise my training hours around my family. At no point could I ever prioritise sports over my family, that simply wouldn't work."

When Habscheid set a new record at Bob Bertemes' sporting event in mid-August, it became clear that hopes for an Olympic medal were real. And indeed, he wrote Luxembourgish sporting history at the Stade de France in front of 80,000 people and millions more TV spectators. With a push of 14,97 meters, his bronze medal was secured.

"Sure, I did have more in me. But that doesn't matter, I am among the top three worldwide in my category!"

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Habscheid quickly found a spot in Luxembourg's heart. His sympathies, authentic self got him ambassadorship of para-sports in Luxembourg.

"I think that being a public figure makes you a role model - even if you don't want to be one - but the people look up to you regardless. That in itself is beautiful, and I'm just going to stand up to the challenge and try my best to master this."

The peak moment came when Tom was recognised Athlete of the Year, as the first sportsman with disability. "It's such great PR for para-sports in Luxembourg, and really goes to show how much is possible. I'm immensely happy."

Habscheid has now returned to his local Strongman to train his put shot game, with staff there being more than excited to get to work with a bronze-medalist and to question the limits imposed on those with disabilities.

Watch the original report in Luxembourgish:

National women's basketball team

Things also went well for the national women's basketball team, who qualified for the 2025 European Championships and were crowned Team of the Year. Their coach, Mariusz Dziurdzia, made it to second place for Trainer of the Year. A more than well-deserved award for the basketball federation and its members, says Tom Hoffmann.

Since late 2023, the team has had a wider ambition in mind: qualifying for the 2025 European Championships. Although the team has changed slightly, its attitude remains the same, which opponents such as Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro could feel.

"There are also some older players with more experience on the team, which is immensely valuable. But of course, the younger players are motivated and excited to be part of such an engaging project. You really grow as a human, too. And that's why I think that every training session, all this stuff, bears its fruits."

Their coach has been working on that attitude since 2016 and believes this long way has paved these unsurprising victories.

"I can still remember when we played against the then European champions Serbia in 2016 and 50 people watched the game. We now have around 1,300 spectators, which shows that we haven't done much wrong and that we're heading in the right direction," says Dziurdzia.

A first blow came during a match against Switzerland. However, the Red Lionesses continue to share first place with Montenegro with seven points, whilst Switzerland has six, and Bosnia-Herzegovina four. The dream of qualifying for the Euro Championships is therefore far from over.

"I'm glad that we're still in the race and that we get to develop further. We haven't made it this far before, this would be such a great experience," Dziurdzia adds.

The Lionesses are set to play against Bosnia-Herzegovina on 6 February, and Switzerland on 9 February. A lot is still on the table, we're crossing our fingers for our Lionesses!

Rising talents

With this review, Tom Hoffmann also presented some of the rising talents of the Luxembourgish sporting scene, an award given to Gwen Nothum and David Lang.

18-year-old Gwen Nothum, a former triathlete, has now completely switched to cycling and has been able to highlight her progress with good results. At the European Championships in Hasselt (BE), she secured an excellent sixth place in the time trial, and in the road race in Hasselt she won eighth place. She was also able to impress at the World Championships in Zurich in 16th place.

"I can't complain about this season, and especially the award has been a nice recognition of my hard work. Next year I'm advancing into the U23 category and will be joining the Belgian team Nike-Belco to race alongside some experienced elites. Alone the volume and scale of trainings this year have shown how much progress there has been in both speed and technique," says the 18-year-old.

She hopes to follow the footsteps of Christine Majerus, Marie Schreiber, or Nina Berton over the coming years.

"I have no concrete plans as of yet, I just want to see how far I can go. Maybe I'll also start a remote study programme, but I don't know yet."

Also David Lang proves to be a multi-faceted and promising figure on the sports scene. While he did well on cyclecross, he remains third in cross-country. At the same time, the young sportsman managed to snatch the U20 champion's title at Dietrich's nationals, and shares first place at the premiere.

"Initially I thought that sharing first place would set me back by a year, but really if anything, it gives me time to focus on both sports and school without having to prioritise one over the other - I think that's great," he reflects.

Nonetheless, the sports award incentivised the rising star to work harder on his career: "It was super cool to be awarded the Young Sportsman Award. It really motivated me to maybe one day also be recognised in the same way as all the other elite sportspeople that were present that evening."

Be assured that we will be hearing a great deal of things from these two young rising talents in the future. We're excited about what 2025 has to bring after a more than successful 2024.