Follow-up report day 4
The fourth day at the European Championships was again successful from the German point of view. Especially the German gymnasts could convince with two gold medals. But there was also reason for joy in the sports climbing, the triathlon and the track cycling.
Elisabeth Seitz was able to secure the gold medal in uneven bars after winning bronze at the 2018 European Championships. Teammate Kim Bui finished fifth in the last competition of her career. On the balance beam, 18-year-old Emma Malewski surprisingly won the gold medal. She relegated the favorite Ondine Achampong from Great Britain to second place. Malewski's club colleague and former world champion Pauline Schäfer-Betz had to settle for fifth place after a mistake on the dismount and a timeout.
Hannah Meul was able to win the first European Championship medal for the German sport climbers. In the bouldering competition, the 21-year-old secured the silver medal, finishing second only to Olympic and multiple world champion Janja Garnbret from Slovenia. TUM student Alma Bestvater unfortunately missed out on the bouldering final. In the men's lead competition, Alexander Megos and Yannick Flohé were just behind the medal places with fifth and sixth place.
In the mixed relay in the triathlon, the team of Nina Eim, Simon Henseleit, Laura Lindemann and Valentin Wernz won European silver for the third time in a row after a strong final sprint. Gold went to the team from France.
Theo Reinhardt was not actually scheduled to compete in the track cycling event, but because Roger Kluge was needed in the road cycling race, he started anyway. And he did so with great success, as the 31-year-old was only beaten by world champion Elia Viviani from Italy and thus won the silver medal in the elimination race.
After a strong final sprint, rower Alexandra Föster surprisingly secured bronze in the single sculls. The mixed four of the para rowers also won the bronze medal. Oliver Zeidler, on the other hand, was disappointed. The top favorite and world champion was in the lead for long stretches of the race, but collapsed in the last 250 meters and had to settle for fourth place.
There was nothing for the German riders in the road race. In the victory of Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen, Phil Bauhaus finished 16th as the best German.
Preview Day 5
On the fifth day of the European Championships a total of twelve gold medals will be awarded.
Cycling
Four medal decisions are scheduled for track cycling today. First of all, the men's qualification races for the Omnium (all-around consisting of scratch, tempo race, elimination race and points race) will start at 12 noon at the Messe München. There is also the final at the end of the day at 18:45.
Further medal decisions will be made in the men's 1km time trial, the women's omnium and the women's sprint, where Lea Sophie Friedrich and Emma Hinze are two German riders in the semifinals. Both have already won gold at this European Championship and are now hoping for the next medal.
Beach volleyball
The beach volleyball women start the European Championships on the fifth day. For the German duos Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann and Chantal Laboureur/Sarah Schulz it is first about qualifying for the final round via the group phase. Today, the first match is scheduled for both duos at Königsplatz. Müller/Tillmann will compete at 5:15 p.m., Laboureur/Schulz will play their match at 8 p.m.
Athletics
The European Championships will now also get underway for the track and field athletes in the Olympic Stadium. It starts at 10 a.m. with the qualification in the men's shot put, where the medals will be decided at 8:58 p.m. in the evening. Medals are also up for grabs in the women's shot put, where the final will take place at 8:38 p.m. before the men's final. In the decathlon, former world champion Niklas Kaul is hoping for a good start to the European Championships. Other decisions are scheduled for the women's 10,000 meters, where Konstanze Klosterhalfen is hoping for a medal, and the men's and women's marathon runners.
Sports Climbing
At Königsplatz, the sports climbers will also continue. There, the speed competitions for women and men are scheduled for today. The start is at 2 p.m. with the women's qualification, in which three German athletes - Nuria Brockfeld, Anna Apel and Julia Koch - will be competing. In the men's event there are even four athletes with Sebastian Lucke, Dorian Zedler, Leander Carmanns and Linus Bader. The finals are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. for the women and 3:45 p.m. for the men.
Table tennis
In the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, the semifinals and the final of the mixed table tennis competition are scheduled for today, but without German participation. Annett Kaufmann will play against Elisavet Terpou from Greece at 12:25 pm. At 4:25 p.m., it will be Franziska Schreiner's turn to play against Özge Yilmaz from Turkey.
Text: Jan Cederic Mann
Photos: Thomas Niedermüller & Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Munich 2022