Sorgers was born in 1967 in Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which at the time belonged to East Germany.[2] She went to school in Pragsdorf where she was chosen for the rowing programme.[3] From early on in her rowing career, Sorgers was a sculler.[4] Her first club was Dynamo Neubrandenburg-Mitte and in 1981, she transferred to SC Dynamo Berlin. In 1982, she won the national junior championships in quad scull.[1] Her first notable success came at the 1983 Spartakiad where she won gold in the double scull event partnered with Sybille Schmidt.[4][5] At the 1984 World Rowing Junior Championships in Jönköping, Sweden, she became junior world champion in the coxed quad scull alongside Judith Zeidler.[6] At the 1985 World Rowing Junior Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel, East Germany, she became junior world champion in the double scull partnered with Claudia Krüger with whom she had rowed since the beginning of the year;[7] they dominated the final from the start and were more than 12 seconds ahead of the silver medallists.[8]