Things are going well for Frederik Ruppert – in the truest sense of the word. And that has been the case for quite some time. Last year at the Diamond League meeting in Rabat he improved his best time in the 3000 meter steeplechase by a fabulous 13.6 seconds to 8:01.49 minutes. This meant he was almost eight seconds shy of the national record that had stood since 1999.
This spring, in the capital of Morocco, he beat his record by more than three seconds to 7:57.80 minutes. He was the first European to break the eight-minute mark. On Sunday evening at 9:50 p.m. his fantastic run will be crowned for the time being.
At the European Championships in the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, Ruppert goes into the final as favorite over his parade route. The 29-year-old accepts this role without any ifs or buts. "That's exactly my expectation. I'm preparing for gold," he says confidently and in the knowledge that one of his worst rivals is wearing the same national jersey as him.
Karl Bebendorf, 30, from Dresdner SC, with whom Ruppert is friends, is in second place behind him in the European annual best list. The Saxon improved this season to 8:05.55 minutes and recently celebrated a remarkable victory at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.
Regardless of how the final race turns out, Ruppert believes he is prepared for any tactic. “I think that I will have an answer to everything the run will offer,” says the Rhinelander, who has been training under Isabelle Baumann since October 2023. His move to the wife of Dieter Baumann, the 1992 Olympic 5000 meter champion, gave him the decisive impetus for his performance explosion.
They were triggered by a new training methodology called double threshold training. It was made famous by Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic champion over 1500 and 5000 meters from Norway.
Ruppert about his training: “super boring, but effective”
The method involves training two units a day with high running volumes. The division makes it possible to run for a long time in intensive stress areas without overtaxing the body. “I often work in the pulse range of 165 to 170 beats per minute, even though my maximum pulse is around 185,” says Ruppert.
Instead of exhausting yourself in a hard, exhausting tempo session and needing a long recovery afterwards, you can run more kilometers close to race pace with double threshold training.
Ruppert completes around 160 kilometers every training week. His training, he says, is super boring but effective.
Heart rate and RPE
Other factors for the boost in performance not only for Ruppert, but also for other German runners such as Florian Bremm, 25, who took silver over 5000 meters in Birmingham, are highly scientific load control and nutrition, but also the material, i.e. the new generation of running shoes.
The carbon plates integrated into the shoe ensure that the toe joint is stiffened. This results in energy savings when running. In addition, special damping foams enable energy recovery. This makes it possible to travel up to four percent faster.
But what makes the biggest difference is “belief in your own abilities,” emphasizes Isabelle Baumann, who also acts as national coach. Meaningful training is the prerequisite for this. That's why it's no problem that Ruppert, who comes from Aachen, now lives with his family in Kerpen and Baumann works 400 kilometers away in Tübingen. “If the athlete feels comfortable, it’s okay that we don’t see each other all the time,” says the trainer, who sees her protégé as far from being at the peak of his abilities.
Ruppert's big goal: a medal in LA in 2028
Regardless of various further developments to optimize performance, there are also voices raised against Ruppert that ask whether everything is going well given his astonishing increase in performance. He replies that the suspicions are expressed by people who are not from the scene. “We are, so to speak, transparent athletes,” emphasizes Ruppert.
The National Anti-Doping Agency monitors its top athletes at every turn, sometimes much more strictly than is done in other countries. Doping controls can take place unannounced at any time and anywhere from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. "We have to indicate where we are - this applies to every day. We have to be reachable by the testers within an hour."
It is also important to Ruppert to dispel a well-known cliché - that Europeans have a genetic disadvantage compared to runners from the African continent. “That’s not true,” he replies vehemently. In his opinion, the times when endurance athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia dominated the middle and long distances are over. The decisive factor is the quality of training - and here Europe has caught up significantly.
Ruppert would like to provide this proof at the World Championships in Beijing next year and especially at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. "I'm already working on this goal. I ran good times," says the fourth-place finisher at the European Championships in 2024. "Now I want to win international medals."
It should start on Sunday. The last title won by a German over the 3000 meter obstacle at a continental championship was now 28 years ago.
