Instead of worrying about “sharp toes all the time, Sollfrank found freedom in parkour, which involves jumping, climbing and running around urban landscapes.
“I realized I had to set my own limits,” Sollfrank told CNN Sport. “I need to focus on my movement instead of always comparing myself to others.
“All I did when I was a gymnast was compare myself to other women and try to be better than them. And parkour kind of slapped me in the face and it showed to me: ‘This is not what you want.’ “
Since moving to parkour in 2015, Sollfrank has not looked back.
The 23-year-old has competed in the world’s biggest parkour tournaments, making her debut at the Aurora Games in New York and also making the podium at the Red Bull event Art of Motion in 2019.
Sollfrank took part in the Netflix show Ultimate Beastmaster and was the last woman to stand out in her Ninja Warrior Germany show.
She is also the only woman in the 15-member parkour group Ashigaru. And now she wants to encourage more people to follow in her footsteps and embrace parkour.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, it doesn’t matter what gender you are, as long as you see that you like movement, that you like to challenge yourself, said Sollfrank, who admits she has to overcome her fear of heights to continue competing.
“There should be no fear of starting because everyone starts at their own level. Some people may have a lot of body experience and start at a higher level. Some don’t know of people about anything, they want to know how to do parkour and they start from zero. And that’s absolutely right. “