Et can’t be a rain of medals for the German track and field team every evening – but this did not detract from the wonderful atmosphere in Munich’s Olympic Stadium during the evening session on Friday. After all, every game lives from the fact that the guests like it.
Eight decisions were made on the fifth day of the competition, six of them within 90 minutes on the track. The first winner of the evening was the British Laura Muir – as expected, the Olympic silver medalist and World Championship third won over 1500 meters. It was also to be expected that her team-mate Zharnel Hughes would be the first to cross the 200-meter finish line, after all, the Briton, who was born in Anguilla, was the 2018 European 100-meter champion. The success of Finland’s Topi Raitanen over the 3,000-meter obstacle course seemed much more surprising.
The nice thing from a German point of view: German participants showed good performances in all three competitions: Hanna Klein, Karl Benedorf and Joshua Hartmann each finished fifth. “I can count myself lucky with the placement,” said middle stretcher Hanna Klein, summing up her fifth place in 4:05.49 minutes. Almost two seconds was missing for a medal. “I couldn’t think of a way,” she said coquettishly about the problem of being trapped inside, blocking the way forward.
Instructive experience: Karl Bebendorf finished fifth in his first European Championship final
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Image: dpa
Karl Bebendorf described his first participation in a European Championship final as “very instructive”. The steeplechase runner found the course of the race, which was loudly accompanied by the audience with many battles for position, “a bit confused”, but in the end he said: “It was nice”.
Joshua Hartmann is the first German in 36 years to sign up for a 200-meter final. The 23-year-old was a winner from the start, even if he finished 20.50 seconds better than his personal best of 20.33, set in the semifinals. And even then, six hundredths would have been missing for a medal.
Bol and Warholm outstanding
Over 400 meters hurdles it seemed clear from the start that only one could win the race: Femke Bol, European Champion over 400 meters flat from Munich, then also dominated as expected from the first step. The frenzied Dutchwoman won with a huge lead of a good one and a half seconds in a championship record time of 53.67 seconds.
Gold for the Netherlands: Femke Bol
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Image: AP
Carolina Krafzik was also doing well up to the last hurdle, but then the gap didn’t fit, she had to take tripping steps, lost the pace and finally finished in 56.02 seconds under value as eighth to the finish. The 27-year-old explained that she was “happy” to have been in the final at all. After all, she had set a personal best in the semifinals: “I didn’t even think about a medal.”
Alexandra Burghardt was also only eighth over 200 meters (23.24 seconds). But the sprinter from Burghausen has already won a medal this year: at the Olympic Winter Games she won silver as a brakewoman in Mariama Jamanka’s two-man bobsleigh. The Swiss Mujinga Kambundji (22.32) won gold over the 200 meters in Munich.
Hundredth decision in the hurdles
In the men’s 400 meter hurdles, Karsten Warholm once again ran everything into the ground. The two-time world champion, Olympic champion and defending champion from Norway won in a superior manner in 47.12 seconds, which is also a championship record.
The race for third place was more exciting. Right in the middle: Joshua Abuaku from Eintracht Frankfurt, who had the best race of his 26-year life. He crossed the finish line in 48.79 seconds, bronze seemed within reach – but the photo finish showed that Turkey’s Yasmani Copello and Frenchman Ludvy Vaillant were just a fraction faster. Abuaku missed a hundredth. He was left with, of course, fifth place.
A hundredth is missing to bronze: Joshua Abuaku
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Image: dpa
It was almost as close in the sand pit: Neele Eckhardt-Noack from Munich just missed a medal in the triple jump at her home games. The 30-year-old jumped 14.43 meters and finished fourth – two centimeters more would have been enough for bronze.
Maryna Bech-Romantschuk secured gold with a European annual best of 15.02 meters. The Ukrainian had finished fourth in the long jump 24 hours earlier and had cried bitterly afterwards. Now an entire country was celebrating the first gold for war-torn Ukraine at this European Athletics Championships.
