Day 10 Review: Latvian Pair Crowned Beach Volleyball Queens

Fans across the venues braved the weather conditions on Saturday to witness sports history, as it was not only raining cats and dogs, but pouring medals at Munich 2022. Once the rain clouds had dispersed, the spectators were rewarded with top-notch performances, with the track and field stars living up to the billing and a Latvian duo crowned beach volleyball queens in front of a royal backdrop. You can relive all events via our live blog.

RETAINING THEIR CROWN

Latvia’s Tina Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka returned to the top of European women’s beach volleyball when they defeated reigning champions Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner (SUI) in the CEV EuroBeachVolley gold medal match.

The 2019 champions went a set down and while the Swiss pair fought hard to retain their crown, ultimately the Latvian pair had too much and won 2-1 (18-21, 21-15, 15-11).

“We said there is nothing to lose, and we have to bring the intensity,” Graudiņa said. “Switzerland is such a good team that if you don’t show something in return to them, they will beat us up. We knew we had to rise to the challenge.”

Earlier in the evening the Netherlands’ Raïsa Schoon and Katja Stam won bronze after they defeated Spain’s Daniela Álvarez Mendoza and Tania Moreno Matveeva 2-1 (19-21, 24-22, 15-11).

Read the full review here.

EASY AS 1-2-3

Femke Bol produced another superb one-lap run at Olympiastadion on Saturday to take the Dutch women’s 4x400m relay quartet from fourth to first on the final leg and capture her third gold of the European Athletics Championships.

On a night when Armand Duplantis (SWE) and Luiza Gega (ALB) set championship records to win the men’s pole vault and women’s 3000m steeplechase titles respectively, it was Bol who again stole the headlines adding a third title after her dominant displays in the 400m and 400m hurdles finals earlier in the week.

“It was such an amazing race,” she said. “I really love to run with my girls and against other runners. These championships feel very special to me.”

“This was really crazy,” added Lisanne de Witte, who handed Bol the baton. “When Femke crossed the finish line I thought ‘Oh my God, Femke is triple European champion’.”

Check out the full review here.

BRILLIANT BRITONS CLAIM TEAM GOLD

British gymnasts Joe Fraser, Giarnni Regini-Moran, Jake Jarman, Courtney Tulloch and James Hall have claimed gold in the men’s team final at the European Championships Munich 2022. Led by European all-around champion Fraser, the Brits won their first European team title since 2012 and their second in history. The team posted 254.295 points, more than six points clear of silver medallists Italy.

Having qualified in first place, the British team pulled off a stunning performance and only counted one fall on parallel bars. “To deliver the routines we did today under that amount of pressure – I’m proud of each and every one of them,” Fraser said.

“We had our struggles in the last few days, but the way that we pulled together today really showed our character. We have worked for months together through the tough times and the good,” he added.

Second-place qualifiers Turkey sealed the bronze (246.162), their second-ever European team medal after a silver in 2020.

You can find the full review here.

MUDDY BUT HAPPY

The mud covering her face, could not cover her smile. Loana Lecomte (FRA) came out on top after racing on the rain-soaked mud and grass at Olympiaberg on a mountain bike for an hour and a half. Conditions and luck had played in her favour.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) finished second after being held up by a mechanical, and Anne Terpstra (NED) took bronze behind the French couple.

Lecomte enjoyed the tough conditions, defending her lead over Ferrand-Prévot in the last three laps.

“I’m very happy with the conditions in this race. I like every condition, but when there is rain, a lot of it, a lot of riders don’t like this condition. Every time I favour to ride in the mud, because it’s funny and I like that.”

Read up on how the race unfolded in our full review.

EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER

Fans and players alike were taken on an emotional and thrilling ride, as the table tennis singles finalists were decided at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle on Saturday.

Sofia Polcanova (AUT) broke down in tears after winning her semifinal against Sabine Winter (GER) 4-3, saying that her late father had given her an extra push in the close match.

”I thought about my father, because he passed away in 2015 and he was my coach," Polcanova said.

"When I play big tournaments, I always think about him and today he gave me strength in the game to continue playing.”

In the women’s gold medal match, Polcanova will play Nina Mittelham (GER) who took a comfortable 4-1 win against her teammate in club and national team, Xiaona Shan (GER).

The men’s final will see Dang Qiu (GER) go up against Darko Jorgić (SLO) after the 25-year-old German eliminated eight-time champion Timo Boll (GER) and doubles champion Mattias Falck (SWE) in the process.

You can find all the drama and reactions in our full review.

CHAMPIONS’ GALLERY

TITLES DEFENDED

Romania, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine all took their first canoeing gold medals at the European Championships Munich 2022 in a series of exciting races on Sunday.

Emma Jørgensen (DEN) retained her women’s kayak single (K1) 200m European title despite only being back in training for seven weeks after finishing her studies.

“That’s a little bit crazy,” Jørgensen said afterwards.

"It means a lot to stand here and defend the 200m even though it's not on the Olympic schedule anymore. I'm very satisfied with my race, and I know there's definitely more to come."

Check out all highlights of the day in our full review.