An Olympic power couple has called it quits while competing in the “ City of Love .”
German soccer player Lea Schuller and Austrian sailor Lara Vadlau arrived at the Paris Games firmly in a relationship, but it appears as though there was lingering trouble in paradise. At some point during this year’s Olympics, the pair decided to break up, though reportedly remain on good terms.
Speaking to O3, Vadlau divulged: “Lea is no longer my partner. Of course I am very proud of her and we are still very good friends and I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.”
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Heading into the Olympic Games, Schuller expressed hope that she’d be able to see Vadlau around in Paris when both of them weren't competing. The Bayern Munich forward conceded that she barely gets to spend time with her partner due to each of their demanding athletic schedules.
"It's great that we both made it to Paris. Maybe we'll run into each other a few times," she said at the time. "We rarely see each other, only about 100 days a year, because Lara is away a lot and trains hard to prepare for the Games."
Back in 2022, Schuller expressed a similar sentiment during an interview with Bayern Munich while on a boat ride alongside Vadlau. “On the other hand, if I wasn’t a sportswoman we could see each other a lot more often,” she began.
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“Lara’s just been away for two weeks, then I’m with the national team for 10 days, then she’s back on her travels… We often only see each other for three to five days at a time. It’s a bit like a long-distance relationship. Not because we live in different places - we live together in Munich - it’s just one of us is always away.”
Vadlau believed the fact that her and Schuller were both elite-level athletes made it easier to stomach the long times apart, adding: “I find it really helpful because both of us understand what you have to do for your sport, that you’re away a lot and don’t see each other that often. Otherwise it would be really hard.”
Prior to their split, Vadlau and Schuller painted a beautiful picture of their relationship on social media, routinely sharing photos from their vacation getaways. One such post of the couple posing topless with their backs to the camera drew the ire of critics, prompting a response from Vadlau.
“We have beautiful bodies - why shouldn't we show them off? You can be a bit provocative,” she told the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.
Despite the couple’s relationship problems outside of competition, the duo still managed to excel on the world’s biggest stage. Vadlau won her first-career gold in the mixed dinghy, while Schuller secured bronze with the women’s German national team.
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