EFirst the women’s gold four continued their winning streak, then the sprinters also raced to the title: The German track cyclists celebrated a brilliant debut at the European Championships in Munich. To say goodbye to Lisa Brennauer, the Olympic and world champion quartet with Franziska Brauße (Öschelbronn), Lisa Klein (Erfurt) and Mieke Kröger (Bielefeld) defended their title over 4000 meters on Friday. Then the sprinters Emma Hinze (Cottbus), Pauline Grabosch (Chemnitz) and Lea Sophie Friedrich (Cottbus) also chased gold as a team on the 200-meter track.
In a rousing final, the German foursome beat Italy in 4:10.872 minutes by a margin of 0.699 seconds after they had been more than a second behind at times. “Our national coach got louder and louder, didn’t call out the lap times like we’re used to, but just shouted, we knew we were behind and had to step up our game to win this thing,” Brausse reported.
Driven by the enthusiastic audience in the packed stands, the Olympic champions drove an irresistible final kilometer and continued the winning streak. “It’s just fun to win. You enjoy the win and it was hard fought on a super hard track. It’s always very special in front of a home crowd,” said Klein.
For Lisa Brennauer, who ended her career after the European Championship, the title was particularly important. “For me it is the last competition in the constellation. A laughing and a crying eye that we were able to retrieve that again today as a team. It was a very special finish for me,” said the 34-year-old. “The audience cheered us on from the start, it was gigantic.”
In the semifinals, the world champions and world record holders prevailed against Great Britain. The British lost the small final against France.
Brennauer won her 25th medal at World and European Championships on Friday. More could follow: As the defending champion on Saturday, she is also the big favorite in the individual pursuit. In addition, the 34-year-old is still on the road.
Sprinters also win gold
Only about 45 minutes later, the sprinters of the Bund Deutscher Fahrrad (BDR) were also unbeatable. The Olympic silver medalists from Tokyo and world champions defeated the trio from the Netherlands in 38.061 seconds. The Poles secured third place by beating France in the small final.
“Three times it was full throttle,” said Emma Hinze about the tactics in the final and in the preliminary rounds. “We got the best out of our skills. Now we not only have the rainbow stripes, but also the stars on our chests and I think we can be very proud of that,” said Pauline Grabosch. “It was a great team effort. The atmosphere was amazing here, we were able to adapt well to the 200-meter track.”
