Background
She was born in Westum, Sinzig, Rhineland-Palatinate.
She was born in Westum, Sinzig, Rhineland-Palatinate.
She took a silver as the anchor of the 4 × 100 m relay squad in the 1974 European Championships in Rome. Helten set a world record for 100 meters in June 1976, with an 11.04 clocking. She competed for West Germany at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Canada in the 100 metres, winning a bronze medal behind team mate Annegret Richter and East German Renate Stecher.
She place 5th in the 200 meter final, where the top 5 women were German.
She won her first international Gold medal at the 1971 European Athletics Championships as a member of the 4 × 100 m relay team, where she placed 4th in the 100 metre final. She then joined with Annegret and fellow West Germans Elvira Possekel and Annegret Kroniger in the 4 × 100 m relay, where they won the silver medal behind the East Germans in 42.59 to 42.55.
