Day 11 Review: Hosts Germany Top Medal Table To Cap Off Munich 2022 In Style

The European Championships Munich 2022 concluded on Sunday night with more delight for the hosts, as their women’s 4x100m relay team secured the final gold medal up for grabs to wrap up an 11-day celebration and spark a final party in Munich. Germany finished atop the medal table of the multi-sport event, snatching the Nations Trophy ahead of second-placed Great Britain and third-placed Italy. Relive the final day of action via our blog, as we say goodbye and ‘Servus’ from Olympiapark.

GERMAN GIRLS GRAB FINAL GOLD

The European Championships Munich 2022 ended in raucous and triumphant style at Olympiastadion on Sunday as Germany’s sprint relay team secured gold for the host nation in the final event of the athletics programme.

Fittingly, it was Germany’s 100m heroine from Tuesday night, Gina Lückenkemper, who played the decisive part, opening a lead on the third leg and handing the baton to anchor Rebekka Haase who streaked across the line with a scream on her face in 42.34 seconds.

Lückenkemper had needed eight stitches after her dive across the finish line in the 100m final but she returned to the stadium for one more triumph to ensure Germany finish the championships as the number one nation.

“If someone had told me before the championships that I would go home with two gold medals, I would have said they are crazy,” said Lückenkemper.

It was also sweet revenge for the hosts, coming just moments after the German men’s quartet had bungled their baton change, leaving Great Britain to win the men’s 4x100m relay without a challenge in a championship record of 37.67 seconds.

Read up on all medal decisions on the final night of athletics here.

“HAPPIEST MAN ALIVE”

Dang Qiu (GER) won the men's table tennis singles gold medal match against Darko Jorgić (SLO) 4-1, claiming his first international singles title in front of a sold-out Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle.

"This is the biggest achievement I ever had," Qiu said.

"I feel like I am the happiest man alive right now. It’s unbelievable, I don’t know how I achieved it but right now I just feel relieved and so happy.”

He had lost a close first set 12-10 but found his rhythm to come back and win four consecutive sets, cheered-on by thousands of fans in the audience.

"The atmosphere was great. When I turned over the second set I knew I had the momentum and the crowd was always on my side," Qiu said.

Sofia Polcanova (AUT) won the women’s singles gold medal that she had been dreaming of for four years.

”I have been fighting for and dreaming about this so much,” she said.

”In 2018 I was bronze medallist and thought to myself ’OK, next time I want to get a gold medal’, but two years later I was injured so I didn’t play at my best. Now, four years later, I am just so happy.”

The gold medal match against Nina Mittelham (GER), however, ended on a sombre note as a shoulder injury forced the home hope to withdraw from the competition in the second set.

Read the full review here.

SWEDISH SUPER TROOPERS

David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig showed why they are being predicted a bright future in beach volleyball when they won CEV EuroBeachVolley gold on Sunday, their first major international title on the senior stage.

The Swedish pair were dominant in their 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) win against the Czech Republic’s Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner at Königsplatz.

“It feels unbelievable,” Åhman said. “We knew they would be a tough team to beat, but we played incredibly well, I don’t know how we did it.”

Earlier in the day Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sørum (NOR) ensured that they would be leaving with a medal after missing out on the chance to go for a fifth CEV EuroBeachVolley gold when they lost to Åhman and Hellvig in the semifinals.

Check out the full review here.

ORANGE CELEBRATION

She was expected to win, but it did not come easy. Lorena Wiebes (NED) pipped world champion Elisa Balsamo (ITA) to the line in a tight sprint to win the women’s road race at Odeonsplatz in Munich.

Road cycling thus finished with the Netherlands on top of the medal table, after Fabio Jakobsen (NED) already won the men’s race. Ellen van Dijk and Riejanne Markus added time trial silver and bronze to the Dutch tally. Switzerland ended up second with Marlen Reusser and Stefan Bissegger taking time trial gold and Stefan Küng seizing time trial silver.

“We controlled the race. Especially on the local circuit and we showed we are a team. Everybody showed their strength and we had it all under control, " said Wiebes.

“I fully trusted the team, that they would close the gap, because the speed would be really high towards the last kilometre.”

Find out how the race unfolded in our full review.

TRIPLE GOLD FOR FRASER

Great Britain’s Joe Fraser finished his European Championships campaign on a high as he added the European parallel bars title to his individual all-around and team gold medals. Fraser, the 2019 world champion on the event, beat Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun in a tie-break by virtue of his higher execution score after they both posted 15.033 points.

“I am truly honoured,” Fraser said afterwards. “I loved being out there. Parallel bars is something I do enjoy competing in. It’s very nerve-wracking because I’ve got this parallel bars reputation all of a sudden,” Fraser laughed while referring to his 2019 world title.

The three gold medals at the European Championships Munich 2022 came after he made a miracle recovery following a ruptured appendix in May and a foot fracture just four weeks ago. “I am so proud of myself, my coach, the doctors, the physios that helped me to perform at this level. It’s difficult at the best of times,” he added. “To do it given the situations I overcame over the last two months, I’m just really happy.”

Read the full review of the apparatus finals here.

HUNGARY SHOOT TO TOP

Powerhouse Hungary climbed to the top of the canoe sprint medal table on the last day of the European Championships Munich 2022, taking six of the 21 gold medals on offer.

Hungary finished with nine golds, one more than Germany. Spain had a superb final day, snatching four golds to bring their total to five – equal to Great Britain, who dominated the paracanoe events.

Hungary’s wins included a superb gold for Noémi Pupp, who ended her first full senior season with European gold in the women’s kayak single (K1) 1,000m. Although Pupp was fifth after 250m, she found her rhythm to take the win.

"I came here with confidence. Even though I had a bad start I knew I could do this and the middle part was pretty good,” Pupp said.

Amid the gold rush, Bence Nádas and Bálint Kopasz added a further title to their list of honours with the men’s kayak double (K2) 500m, and Emese Kőhalmi secured the win in a sprint finish to the women’s K1 5,000m race postponed from Saturday.

You can find the full review here.