One year later, still only nineteen years of age, she competed at her first World Championships, which was staged in Rome. She finished tenth with a throw of 19.36 metres. During the indoor season she had finished fifth at the 1987 European Indoor Championships, and in August, a month before the World Championships, she had thrown a personal best of 19.90 metres in Hamburg. At her first World Indoor Championships in 1989 she finished fourth, with 19.63 metres. The same winter she competed at the 1989 European Indoor Championships, which she won with a throw of 20.30 metres. She finished ahead of East German Heike Hartwig and West German Iris Plotzitzka. The result of 20.30 metres would remain her career best throw in an indoor event.