Karina Schönmaier

Karina Schönmaier's rise is German gymnastics' best fairy tale. She grew up bilingual in Bremen, speaking German and Russian, and learned the sport at TuS Huchting, in a gym so small that her vault run-up started outside the door.

Coach Katharina Kort spotted her talent and spent eleven years taking her all the way to the national team. At the end of 2022 she moved to the national training center in Chemnitz, where she works with Anatol Ashurkov and Tatjana Bachmayer.

Her signature moment came at the 2025 European Championships in Leipzig: gold on vault with 13.983, the first German woman to win a European vault title since 2008. She added mixed-team gold with Timo Eder and team silver, then won the national all-around title.

In 2026 she took silver on vault at Euros in Zagreb, won the German vault title, finished second in the all-around at nationals and earned vault silver at the Cottbus World Cup. She was second at Germany's first Worlds trial in Ketsch (51.275) and is in the running for the team for Rotterdam.