After the surprising world championship title at the track cycling world championship in the team sprint, Emma Hinze, Pauline Grabosch and substitute driver Lea Sophie Friedrich had a big get-together with their predecessors. Kristina Vogel was very enthusiastic about the performance.
Berlin (dpa) - As soon as Emma Hinze and Co. had completed the winning ceremony after their gold coup, their great predecessors Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte were already waiting for a party in the interior of the Berlin Velodrome.
Selfies were shot, the old and new track bike stars were in each other's arms after the victorious start to the home World Cup on Wednesday evening. "They step out of no slipstream. All three are individual, they are not the successors of Kristina Vogel or Miriam Welte. They go their own way. It's so fun and gives hope," said Vogel.
Shortly before, Hinze and Pauline Grabosch had defeated the Australian team in an exciting final and had secured the first German world championship title in the team sprint since 2018. Back then, Vogel and Welte had triumphed in the final, as they did in the triple from 2012 to 2014. Hinze even beat Vogel's world record in position two. "It's ok, times are changing. Every time has its athletes, its stars," added Vogel.
The new stars are now Hinze and Grabosch, both 22 years young. The world champion team also includes Lea Sophie Friedrich (20), who drove in qualifying and was also on the podium. "We are a really young team. After the last few years, when Kristina had the serious accident and Miriam stopped, we all rearranged and packed everything in. Nobody expected that," said Grabosch, who had the bad fall in Cottbus in 2018 who had experienced paraplegic record world champion Vogel first-hand and then fell into a deep hole.
Hinze, however, thought "like in a dream". The team clearly exceeded their own best times, also thanks to the support of the local audience. "We are going into the home World Cup with a world champion jersey. This will inspire us for the next few days," said Grabosch.
Hinze in particular can still be expected in the Sprint and Keirin disciplines. Born in Hildesheim, she presented herself in an impressive form and should therefore be one of the major medal candidates in the individual disciplines.