Sprint Queen Lückenkemper brings Munich into ecstasy: 10.99 is better than 10.99
Created: 08/17/2022, 12:35 p.m
By: Gunter Klein
Europe's fastest woman Gina Lückenkemper balances her way to the finish in the European Championship final.
© dpa/Sören Stache
Gina Lückenkemper wins gold over 100 meters and surprisingly secures the European title.
However, not entirely without wounds.
Munich – And there it was again, the well-known and popular Gina-Luckenkemper EM smile from Berlin 2018, the radiance of the whole body, which every communication trainer cites as a teaching example.
And that then matched this insane course of the race: "Lücki", as her fan club calls her on posters, heaved herself to the finish after a catch-up run, in which she almost rolled over - of which traces of blood on her left hand and leg were witnesses.
When she was still on the tartan track, the jury resolved the opaque finish situation with three runners in one line: Lückenkemper's 10.99 seconds were slightly better than the 10.99 of the Swiss Mujinga Kambundji, Daryll Neita had 11.00 second hand.
Lückenkemper bit into this finale, stubbornly looking ahead, her face distorted as if she were crying.
She doesn't know how she did it, but of course: the environment had spurred her on.
After the semi-finals (11.11 seconds), in which she lacked composure, she said: "An amazing backdrop here, unbelievable." What she then experienced did not let her feel the pain of the injury that the paramedics were treating .
"I'm full of adrenaline," she screamed, encouraging the audience to wave.
Lückenkenper's gold covered up the fact that the German sprint was disappointing across the board: Rebekka Haase was fifth in her semifinals (there were three runs), Tatjana Pinto was only seventh in her round.
The times – 11.52 and 11.55 seconds – are second-rate internationally at best and not exactly a boost for hope for the 4x100 m relay, which came in third at the World Championships in Eugene and caused the most pleasant surprise (alongside Malaika Mihambos long jump gold).
But perhaps there is now a Lückenkemper effect.
None of the men reached the final in Munich, but the DLV trio who reached the semi-finals posted solid times.
With his 10.19 seconds, Lucas Ansah-Peprah could hope for some time to reach the final over the times of those who did not directly qualify, Ansah Owen (10.20) and Julian Wagner (10.21) were on the same level.
Most importantly, the sprint was again a poker in the starting block, which in some cases the judges ended before the body got going.
In the final, things went correctly from the blocks - and in 9.95 seconds the Italian Olympic champion Lamont Jacobs won ahead of the Brits Hughes (9.99) and Azuh (10.13), GÜNTER KLEIN