Day 6 Review: Kaul And Lückenkemper Send Olympiastadion Into A Frenzy
Tuesday’s action at the European Championships Munich 2022 reached its pinnacle with a crazy night of athletics at the iconic Olympiastadion. A 40,000-strong crowd had every reason to chant “Oh, wie ist das schön” (Oh how beautiful it is) as they celebrated two surprise gold medals for Germany. The host nation added further silverware at Messe München as the curtain fell on the track cycling events.
CRAZY NIGHT OF JOY
Niklas Kaul (GER) produced a stunning 1500m performance to snatch the European decathlon crown on Tuesday, sparking a wave of German celebration that lasted until the final event of a crazy night of athletics when Gina Lückenkemper landed a shock women’s 100m gold for the host nation.
It was more than the home fans could have dared dream of before the evening began, for Kaul was trailing in seventh place in the 10-event multi-contest before the session began, far behind Switzerland’s long-time leader Simon Ehammer who looked a nailed-on certainty to take the title.
The German made his bold bid for gold from early in the 1500m race, hitting the front with two laps to go and holding his form to cross the line in 4 minutes, 10.04 seconds, a personal best by more than three seconds.
Ehammer was more than half a lap behind at the back of the field and he could do nothing to respond as Kaul rode a tidal wave of noise down the home straight. He looked exhausted at the end, but it was enough.
© Thomas Niedermüller / Munich 2022
“Olympiastadion will have a special place in my life and in my heart. This is craziness. We will never in our lives forget what we have lived here tonight,” an emotional Kaul commented.
“Today's emotional title is worth more than the world title I won three years ago. It is so beautiful to enjoy the atmosphere and the support from the crowd in the stadium.”
Less than an hour later, up stepped Lückenkemper to bring the crowd to its feet again as she hauled herself past a 100m line-up stuffed with more fancied rivals and took the title with a desperate but decisive dip for the line.
Alongside her was Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji and both were given the same time, 10.99, but the German got the victory by five thousandths of a second.
Marcell Jacobs lived up to his billing to win the men’s 100m final and add the European title to the Olympic gold he won in Tokyo last year.
A further five European titles were claimed in athletics on Tuesday. Read the full review here.
CHAMPIONS’ GALLERY
EXPERIENCE AND GRIT
The UEC Track Elite European Championships came to a close on Tuesday, with the last four sets of medals handed out. The fans at Messe München were treated to two true classics of track cycling: Madison and Keirin.
Experience is key in the Madison and the German couple Roger Kluge/Theo Reinhardt had a surplus of just that. The track veterans (36 and 31 years old) controlled the 50km race (250 laps) from the beginning to the end. France and Belgium were left with silver and bronze.
The women’s Madison gold went to Italy’s Rachele Barbieri and Silvia Zanardi, while Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER) took the women’s Keirin title and Sébastien Vigier (FRA) added the Keirin title to his tally after already having won gold in the men’s individual sprint and silver in the team sprint earlier.
While Reinhardt and Kluge sailed on experience in the men’s Madison, Barbieri and Zanardi navigated on grit in the women’s event.
“It was our first Madison (together),“ Barbieri explained: “We went up without fear, with nothing to lose and we tried to give it our best. This morning I said to Silvia, who was a bit worried: 'We really have nothing to lose, we have shown that we have good legs in all the races we have done, why not try until the end?'”
Check out our full review for more information and further reactions.
© Lennart Preiss / Munich 2022
SMOOTH GOING FOR DEFENDING CHAMPS
Beach volleyball action has heated up in the Munich sun at Königsplatz, as the remaining 56 men’s and women’s teams started their bid for CEV EuroBeachVolley gold.
Reigning champions Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner (SUI) made a strong start as they came out 2-0 (21-19, 21-9) winners against German pair Kira Walkenhorst and Louisa Lippmann.
The Swiss won silver at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 at the weekend in Hamburg and carried their strong form over to Munich 2022.
“It's still a long way to go, but it was a good start,” Hüberli said. “We were focusing on getting a rhythm because we had a little bit different preparation than we have usually, because we played in Hamburg until Sunday.
“We really tried to stay calm and tried to find a rhythm, which started to go well in the middle of the first set.”
In the men’s tournament, Christian Sørum and Anders Mol (NOR), who are chasing a fifth European title in a row, also enjoyed a straightforward start, winning 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) over Israel’s Eylon Elazar and Netanel Amiram Ohana.
Click here for the full review.
DOWN TO 16
The men’s doubles field was narrowed down to the best 16 teams on Tuesday as the European Table Tennis Championships resumed at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle.
Monday’s mixed doubles gold medallist Emmanuel Lebesson (FRA) and his partner Simon Gauzy (FRA) were eliminated in the first round of the men’s doubles tournament as Anton Källberg (SWE) and Jon Persson (SWE) upset the French pair in a five-set thriller.
Lebesson and Gauzy, who played each other in the 2016 European championships singles final, were going to win the round of 32 match when they had three match points in the fourth game. Then the Swedes took five consecutive points to win 12-10.
”You are never eliminated (until the match is over),” Persson said.
”Perhaps they got a little bit too hot in the situations and we started to just put the balls in, as we had said we would. Then they perhaps started to get a little stressed.”
Find out how other matches unfolded in our full review.
You can relive and follow all the Munich 2022 action – sports and festival – via our live blog