Report Day 9
On the ninth day of the European Championships there were 20 medal decisions in five different sports, some of which had to take place in the rain.
Athletics
In the men's javelin qualification, defending champion Thomas Röhler was eliminated as last of the qualification group. "I'm probably in the most difficult phase of my athletic career," said Röhler, who has been struggling with injuries again and again lately.
The men's 4x100m relay team qualified impressively for the final with a German record (37.97s) and the best time of the heats at the same time. Just a few minutes later, the German women's 4x100m relay team did likewise, qualifying second behind the sprinters from France despite the absence of gold medal winner Gina Lückenkemper.
Although Germany was represented in each of the eight medal decisions, the German track and field athletes did not manage to win another medal that evening.
In the men's discus throw final, Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania set a new championship record with 69.78 meters to win the gold medal. Germany's Henrik Janssen (61.11m) finished in tenth place.
In the women's triple jump final, Ukraine's Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk took gold with a European best of 15.02 meters. Germany's Neele Eckhardt-Noack (14.43m) finished fourth, narrowly missing the bronze medal by two centimeters.
Topi Raitanen from Finland won the men's 3000m steeplechase final. Best German was Karl Bebendorf on fifth place.
The men's 200m final was won by silver medalist of the 100m sprint Zharnel Hughes (20.07s) from Great Britain. Second was his compatriot Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (20.17s) ahead of Italy's Filippo Tortu (20.27s).
In the women's 400m hurdles final, Femke Bol was happy to win gold. In the men's event, the world record holder Karsten Warholm from Norway won.
She had lost the 100m final to Germany's Gina Lückenkemper in the final meters - but in the women's 200m final, Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji (22.32s) then won the gold medal ahead of Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith (22.43s) and Denmark's Ida Karstoft (22.72s).
Beach volleyball
In the first women's quarterfinal, Germany's Karla Borger and Julia Sude were defeated by their opponents from Latvia. Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz from Germany also failed to reach the semifinals against Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli from Switzerland. Both German duos lost clearly with 0:2. It went better for the last remaining German men's duo. Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler moved into the quarterfinals with their 2:0 victory.
Canoe
At the beginning of the day at the Olympic regatta facility in Oberschleissheim, both the German men's and women's four-man kayak (K4) over 500m qualified directly for the final. In the first final of the canoe racers, the German men's K4 1000m won the gold medal ahead of the boats from Spain and Hungary. In the women's K2 1000m final, the boat from Hungary won ahead of Poland and Spain.
Sebastian Brendel and Tim Hecker took gold in the two-man Canadier (C2) over 1000m. The two Germans finished ahead of Italy and Hungary. The women's C1 500m final was won by Spain's Maria Corbera, with Germany's Annika Loske finishing seventh. Jacob Schopf provided the third gold medal for the German canoeists in the kayak single 500m, Adam Varga from Hungary finished second ahead of Fernando Pimenta from Portugal.
The German para-canoeists won a total of three medals. In the women's 200m final of class VL1, which is the starting class of the most physically challenged athletes, Lillemor Köper won the gold medal with a European best time. Her teammate Esther Bode finished second. Katharina Bauernschmidt competed in the VL2 class and took the bronze medal in the 200m.
Mountain Bike Cross-Country
In the men's cross-country race, Britain's Thomas Pidcock finished first with a time of 1:18:09. The Dane Sebastian Fini Carstensen (+11s) could be happy about the silver medal. Close behind followed the Swiss Filippo Colombo (+12s) in third place. As the best German, Luca Schwarzbauer (+48s) finished in tenth place after the 34.9 kilometers.
Table tennis
In the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, the round of the best 32 was scheduled for the men on Friday and the eighth finals in the singles in the afternoon. The women also played in the eighth finals in the singles and then in the quarter finals to advance. A total of nine German players were represented in the various matches. In the men's singles, Dang Qiu qualified for the quarterfinals in the German-German duel against Benedikt Duda with 4:1. Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll followed him there. With Ying Han and Sabine Winter, two team colleagues also met in the women's round of 16. Ying Han had to retire from the match due to injury. Winter won the quarterfinal against Giorgia Piccolin from Italy with 4:0. The Germans Nina Mittelham and Xiaona Shan also qualified for the semifinals. Both won against their opponents 4:3.
Preview Day 10
A total of 23 medal decisions in six different sports are scheduled for day ten of the European Championships.
Athletics
The first decision already takes place at 8:30 AM with the men's 20km walk final. The favorite role has the European ranking first Perseus Karlström from Sweden. At 10:15 AM it continues with the women's 20km walking final.
In the Olympic Stadium, the sports program starts at 8:05 PM with the men's pole vault final. Sweden's Armand Duplantis, who set the world record of 6.21 meters just two months ago, will be the favorite.
In the women's 800m final, Christina Hering is the only German competing. Britain's Keely Hodgkinson will be hard to beat.
Annika Marie Fuchs will be the only German competing in the women's javelin final starting at 8:25 PM.
After the women's 100m hurdles prelims, the men's 4x400m relay final will take place. The German relay team made it to the final as third in their preliminary heat. Half an hour later at 9:45 PM, the women will compete in the same discipline, also with German participation.
The 3,000m steeplechase will conclude the evening session. The Albanian Luiza Gega is considered the favorite for the gold medal.
Beach volleyball
The first medal decisions in women's beach volleyball are scheduled at Königsplatz. First, however, the men's quarterfinals will take place starting at 11:15 AM. In the last quarterfinal at 3 PM, the Germans Ehlers/Wickler will play against the Norwegians Mol/Sørum. At 5 PM, the women's third-place match will take place. In the final starting at 6:30 PM, Latvia's Kravcenoka/Graudina and Switzerland's Brunner/Hüberli will face off.
Canoe
A total of twelve medal decisions are scheduled for Saturday in Oberschleißheim for the canoeists. In at least five races there is a German participation, another two could be added by the semifinals, which start in the morning from 9 AM. German fans can get their first medal hopes up at 1 p.m. in the men's K1 1000m final, where Jakob Thordsen will be competing. From there on, medal decisions will follow every minute. The final event will be the women's C1 5000m final at 5:45 PM, where Annika Loske will represent Germany.
Mountain Bike Cross-Country
After the men, the women's cross-country riders will now also compete in the finals in the Olympic Park. Three Swiss women have high hopes for a medal. Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei and Linda Indergand already shared the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. Anne Terpstra, the Dutchwoman and World Championship runner-up, will certainly try to steal the medals from them.
Table tennis
In the men's table tennis singles, Timo Boll and Dang Qiu will meet in the first quarterfinal of the day at 10:30 AM. The next match with German participation will take place at 12:20 PM, when Dimitrij Ovtcharov will play against Kristian Karlsson from Sweden. The semifinals in the women's singles will take place from 3 PM with three German players. In the first match, Sabine Winter will face Sofia Polcanova of Austria. In the German-German semifinal, Xiaona Shan and Nina Mittelham will play each other. Starting at 4:50 PM, the finalists and the bronze medal winner will be determined in the men's singles semifinals.
Gymnastics
The men's team final will take place in the Olympic Hall starting at 2:45 PM. The Germans Lukas Dauser, Nils Dunkel, Lucas Kochan, Andreas Toba and Glenn Trebing qualified seventh, but still have small hopes for a medal in front of their home crowd.
Text: Paul Treutwein
Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa