BArm music on the stage, behind it the World Cup final on the screen. And as exciting as the game between Argentina and France was – that evening in the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden, that much became immediately clear from the setting, should big football not be the permanent focus. Even if a gala guest joked whether the singer of the combo could step aside so that he could see Messi better.
But honor should be shown to others at the Sportsman of the Year Gala. Soloists who do not always practice their masterly sport under the burning glass of the world public – but then, when it matters most, also deliver. And of course a team, but more on that later. More than 200 world and European champions, including many active players, were among the 500 or so guests in the festive ballroom – including four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
Great moments in athletics
The “fastest woman in Europe” and the “king of athletes” – the honorary titles alone give enough reason to crown these two champions of continental sports nationally. If you then realize that the two of them secured their European championship titles in the year that is now going on within three quarters of an hour on the same evening – and thus set the starting signal for the success of a grandiose championship – then all the more.
With their performances at the European Championships in Munich, Gina Lückenkemper and Niklas Kaul provided a great moment in athletics – which, through the sparkle in the Olympic Stadium in Munich, also inspired the sports world beyond the Bavarian EM audience. On that evening of August 16th, Kaul finalized the preliminary performance of two days of decathlon with a splendid 1500 meter run, then Gina Lückenkemper sprinted to the European Championship title in less than eleven seconds. Now both have reaped additional laurels: with the award for Germany’s sportswoman and sportsman of the year 2022.
Gina Lückenkemper won the honorary title ahead of her athletics colleague Malaika Mihambo, who has been Germany’s Sportswoman of the Year for the past three years. The long jumper had won silver at the European Championships and gold at the World Championships in Eugene this year, but still had to admit defeat to the sprinter, who, in addition to her sprint gold, also won the title in the sprint relay at the end of the European Championships in Munich. Third place in the vote of the 3,000 members of the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) went to Olympic luge champion Natalie Geisenberger.
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Niklas Kaul repeated his victory from 2019, when he became the youngest decathlon world champion in sports history and also Germany’s athlete of the year. This time he won the athletes’ choice ahead of Vinzenz Geiger, the Olympic champion in Nordic combined and swimming world champion Florian Wellbrock.
And team of the year? The German national soccer team started almost as full as a team – but of course not the one that had to leave Qatar after the preliminary round. Rather, it was the women who stormed through to the final at the European Championships in the summer, only to lose to the hosts after extra time and finish second.
In the election for Team of the Year, they still managed to get bronze – behind the relay sprint women around Gina Lückenkemper and another team that was even more enthusiastic this year: the winner of the election for Team of the Year was Eintracht from Frankfurt, which next to enthusiastic about their successes, above all because of their team spirit. Which ensured that the Hessian Bundesliga club in the knockout round of the Europa League 2022 supposedly stronger opponents or at least bigger names like Betis Sevilla, the glorious FC Barcelona, West Ham United and in the final finally defeated the Glasgow Rangers and thus the European Cup won.
Even before the awards were presented at the athletes’ gala, the World Cup final in Qatar was over. Without a happy ending for the Frankfurt Eintracht representative who remained there: Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani converted his attempt on penalties, but France lost 4-2 to Argentina in the dramatic World Cup final. The winners were sure to receive fair applause from the 500 guests in the Kurhaus Baden-Baden. Athletes are athletes. After all, football is a winner – even if not a single player from Eintracht Frankfurt made it to Baden-Baden, so President Peter Fischer received the trophy. You missed something: the humorous and loving laudatory speech was given by none other than Sebastian Vettel – who turned out to be a big fan and the best representative of Eintracht.
