Born in Freital, Bezirk Dresden, she joined Dresdner SC and started working with the club's athletics coach Klaus Müller. Her first international medal for East Germany came on home soil in Cottbus, where she took the 800 metres bronze medal at the 1985 European Athletics Junior Championships. The 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics followed and at that meet she was sixth in the 800 m, but helped the East German 4×400 metres relay team to a bronze medal by running in the heats stage. She began to run longer distances and won the Willi Sänger Memorial 5K run in 1988.