European Championships: Gold for Germany!
Gina Lückenkemper and Niklas Kaul triumph in Munich
Created: 08/17/2022 05:09
First-placed Gina Lückenkemper (Germany) cheers after the competition.
© Soren Stache/dpa
German athletics has not experienced an evening like this for some time.
The host team won two titles and a total of four medals at the European Championships in Munich.
Munich – After only two days of competition, the European Athletics Championships are the emotional highlight of the season, which many German athletes had previously declared to be.
About a month after the mood slump at the World Championships in the USA, 40,000 fans celebrated a party on Tuesday evening in Munich's Olympic Stadium, inspired by the great performances of the host team, who won two titles and four medals.
European Championships: Gold for Germany!
Gina Lückenkemper and Niklas Kaul triumph
Sprint queen: The great home atmosphere inspired Gina Lückenkemper in 2018 in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, when she sprinted over 100 meters in second place.
This time the 25-year-old was even crowned European Champion in a centimeter decision.
In the semi-finals, the left thigh was taped and participation in the final was temporarily uncertain, as Lückenkemper reported.
Then she had to be stitched up after her fall to the gold in the finish because of a bleeding wound on her leg.
"I'll need a little more time to process it all," said Lückenkemper on ARD before going to the hospital.
Decathlon king: On the second day of the decathlon, Niklas Kaul had lost faith in European Championship gold.
Even during the high jump, the man from Mainz thought there was no longer a chance of winning the title.
"After the afternoon nap, I said to myself: If the gold chance is gone, I'll at least do a show for all spectators in the last two disciplines," said the 24-year-old world champion from 2019. With the javelin throw over 76.05 meters and a 1500 meter run in a best time of 4:10.04 minutes, Kaul still managed to win the title with 8545 points.
"It's the emotionally more important title for me," he said in comparison to the World Cup triumph.
European Championships: Two more medals for Germany
Discus doubles: Kristin Pudenz, who came second at the Olympics, celebrated her personal best in discus throwing silver, while Claudine Vita contributed another medal for the German team with bronze.
"European Championship silver in front of such an audience - that will definitely stay in your memory forever," said the 29-year-old, who threw the discus 67.87 meters.
Only eight centimeters were missing to stop Croatia's Sandra Perkovic from winning the European Championship.
"It annoyed me at first," admitted Pudenz.
"But I threw the best performance, it doesn't get any better than that.
Of course, these eight centimeters - next time stop."
The 25-year-old Vita was happy about the bronze medal with the season's best distance of 65.20 meters.
"A medal was definitely my goal and I'm happy that it worked out," said Eugene, fifth at the World Championships.
"With all the finals, it was an incredible night."
