Christina Honsel

Christina Honsel Career

Christina Honsel is a German high jumper with a personal best of 1.98 meters. She has been competing internationally for Germany since 2019.

Honsel started athletics as a young child and has specialized in the high jump since she was a teenager, occasionally competing in the long jump when she was younger. She became the German U20 Champion in 2015 with a jump of 1.80 meters shortly after her 18th birthday.

A stress fracture in her ankle, which required several operations, hampered her 2016 season. She came back strong the next year, clearing 1.81 meters for the first time in her season opener in January 2017. She showed consistency through the season, tying her personal best on June 30, 2017, and jumping within a centimeter on several occasions.

She ties her personal best again the next year in 2018 at the German U23 championships to finish second.

Honsel set a new personal best in June 2019 of 1.84 meters. This jump would qualify her for her first national team as part of Germany’s U23 European Champion Squad heading to Sweden. She had a huge personal best at these championships, finishing second with a jump of 1.92 meters. She also qualified for her first World Championships in Doha but didn’t advance through the qualifying.

After the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020 season for most athletes, and Honsel didn’t open her season until July. She went on to win her first German Championship in August with a jump of 1.90 meters, clearing the height on her first try, and narrowly missing a new personal best of 1.93 meters.

Honsel’s 2022 season was marred by another serious injury when she twisted her ankle during a takeoff and tore ligaments in her ankle. She wouldn’t be pain-free the entire season.

The next time she would jump over the 1.90-meter barrier wouldn’t be until 2023. After jumping 1.90 meters in January, she set a new lifetime best in early February with a jump of 1.98 meters at the BKK Freundenberg High Jump Meeting.

On the result, she wrote on her personal blog,

“The 1.98m was pure joy and gave me absolute goosebumps! I couldn’t stop grinning all weekend and I’m still overwhelmed.” [translated from German]

Honsel jumped 1.91 in qualifying at the European Athletics Indoor Championships. She cleared the same height in the final to finish sixth. She finished off the season with a jump of 1.94 meters at the World Championships in Budapest, finishing eighth.

2024 to Present

Honsel continued to see improvements the next year, jumping an early-season height of 1.95 meters and then jumping this height again in March to finish fourth at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

She jumped 1.95 meters again in both the preliminary and final rounds of the Paris Olympic Games, finishing sixth.

Honsel repeated as the German champion in 2025, jumping 1.91 meters in Dresden. It marked her first time winning outdoor nationals since 2019. She cleared this height again at the end of August to win her first Diamond League meeting and beat the eventual 2025 World Champion Nicola Olyslagers on countbacks at Athletissima Lausanne.

She cleared 2.00 meters for the first time at the Internationales Hochsprungmeeting Heilbronn. At the end of the 2025 season, she was tied for 54th of all time.

Shed ended her 2025 season with a 1.93-meter jump at the World Championships in Tokyo, finishing seventh.

Christina Honsel Personal Life

Honsel studied economics at the Technical University of Dortmund. She competes for the club TV Wattenscheid 01 Leichtathletik.

At the time of writing, she was ranked eighth in the world in the women’s high jump and had achieved a highest position of fourth.

She has maintained a blog in German on her personal website since 2023, where she talks about some of her competitions. On her disappointment with her performance at her first World Championship, she wrote,

With tears in my eyes and great disappointment, I wanted to leave the stadium straight away. But I stayed on the bench, watched the other athletes – athletes who have been doing this for many years, athletes who jump 2m and higher – and observed their routines, their movements, and their jumps. Then I realized that they too are nervous, that they cannot always perform at their best every day, and that others have had a perfect day, like I did [when I set my personal best in Sweden]. [Translated from German]

FAQS | Honsel Christina

Where is Christina Honsel From?

Christina Honsel is from Dorsten, Germany.

What is Christina Honsel’s Personal Best?

Christina Honsel’s personal best is 2.00 meters, set at the Internationales Hochsprungmeeting Heilbronn Meeting in Germany in 2025.

How Tall is Christina Honsel?

Christina Honsel is roughly 180cm (5’11”).