With partner René Lohse, she is the 2004 World bronze medalist and a six-time German national champion.

A back problem hampered her jumping ability so at the age of 14, she decided to take up ice dancing and asked Lohse to be her partner.

[2] In 1999-2000, Winkler and Lohse's free dance was entitled "Time Goes Millennium", which included techno-style music with ticking sounds, clock images created by their arms and legs repeatedly mimicking clock hands, a rhythmically swinging lift in which Winkler represented a pendulum, and both skaters listening to and looking at wristwatches while walking briskly on the ice.

[4] In 2000-01, Winkler and Lohse became the first German ice dance team to qualify for the Grand Prix Final, where they finished fifth.

They missed most of the 2001-02 season after Lohse fell in practice at the 2001 Sparkassen Cup, injuring the meniscus and ligaments in his knee.

In the summer of 2002, Lohse collided with a truck while he was riding his bike in Oberstdorf, "I went over the handlebars and fell on my shoulder.