Overview

• Vogel recounts colliding with a person on the Cottbus track at over 60 km/h during a training drill, describing brief unconsciousness and realizing the severity as a first responder removed her cycling shoe.
• The crash caused a spinal cord injury with additional complications that left doctors unsure she would live, leading to months of treatment in Berlin and long rehabilitation.
• She says she was near burnout at the height of her dominance and grew up in a culture that dismissed psychological support, citing a coach’s remark that praised her as the team’s “best man.”
• Speaking on the podcast Wie geht’s? hosted by Robin Gosens and Nils Straatmann, she explains feeling liberated from the need to prove herself once she decided to end her elite career.
• She recently married her longtime partner Michael, framing the July ceremony as part of a new chapter that reflects her focus on personal well-being beyond competition.