Day 8 Preview: All Eyes On Mihambo

You don’t have to be a prophet to know who the German fans will be cheering for on day 8 of the European Championships, as Malaika Mihambo is out to defend her women’s long jump title in Olympiastadion. Medals are also on the line in gymnastics, sport climbing and table tennis, while canoe sprint and paracanoe enter the Munich 2022 mix. Follow all events in our live blog.

IN THE MOOD FOR GOLD

Long jump queen Malaika Mihambo (GER) is primed to add more gold medals to her own and her country’s growing collection when she bids to retain her title at the European Athletics Championships at Olympiastadion on Thursday.

Mihambo was one of the happy surprises for hosts Germany when she won her first major gold at the Berlin 2018 championships four years ago. Since then Mihambo’s medal-winning habit has become an engrained aspect of the German athletics scene.

She became world champion in Doha the following year before completing the set with a last-gasp sixth round winning jump at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games 12 months ago.

A second world title followed in Oregon last month, making her the natural favourite to defend her European crown on home soil in Munich.

Fans can look forward to more athletics royalty taking the stage, including Olympic champions Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) and Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA).

Read the full preview here.

THE MEN'S TURN

Following the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships it is the men’s turn to flip, twist and tumble their way to European glory.

Thursday’s qualification for the team and individual apparatus finals doubles up as all-around final and will see the first medals handed out at Olympiahalle.

Several European, world, Olympic champions and medallists compete at Munich 2022, setting up an exciting competition.

One of the teams to watch is Turkey. They field an extremely experienced team, with Adem Asil, Ahmet Önder as well as defending European parallel bars champion and Olympic bronze medallist Ferhat Arıcan. For Arıcan, it’s not only about the (gold) medals, though.

“Of course I’d like to win,” he laughed. “But my life changed a lot after the Olympics, where I was the first Turkish gymnast to win an Olympic medal. You know what’s more important than my bronze or any medal? The fact that kids at home watch us compete and start to do gymnastics because of us,” Arıcan said.

Read the full preview of the European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships here.

THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

As the gold medallists of the doubles tournaments will be decided on Thursday, Bernadette Szőcs (ROU) and Sofia Polcanova (AUT) have yet to lose a game at the European Championships Munich 2022.

The pair are facing María Xiao (ESP) and Adina Mihaela Diaconu (ROU) in their semifinal and have won their three women’s doubles matches 3-0, hoping that this habit continues.

”We hope to keep it like this and to win the gold. Then we would make history, not losing a game,” Szőcs said.

Last year Polcanova suffered from injuries and Szőcs was without a doubles partner for some time.

”Some other players asked me to play doubles with them but I said that ’no, I will wait for her’ because I knew that after her operation she will get well,” Szőcs said.

”I preferred to wait and after that everything would be fine and we could win gold and medals in all tournaments, than to change my partner and not win.”

Check out what else is on the table tennis agenda in our full preview.

FUTURES ON THE LINE

It’s ’win or go home’ for the beach volleyball teams as the 2022 CEV EuroBeachVolley is reaching its business end.

The round of 24 will determine the remaining participants for the men’s and women’s round of 16, with the women narrowing their field down even further on Thursday.

You can find the full preview here.

STAR-STUDDED ENTRIES

The Olympic Regatta Centre will host fast and furious racing as heats of the ECA European Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe Championships get underway on Thursday.

Legendary German canoeist Sebastian Brendel will be one of those hoping to sprint to victory in one of the 41 canoe, kayak and paracanoe events on offer.

Brendel already has 15 European titles over his career, including two from the most recent edition in Poznan last year, and comes to Munich fresh from winning the canoe double 1,000m at the 2022 world championships in Canada together with partner Tim Hecker (GER).

“We’re very excited that we have competition here in Munich at this beautiful venue,” Brendel said.

“We have a strong team and this is our last competition for this year on international level. We want to show our best here and hope we hear sometimes the German anthem,” he added.

Click here for the full preview.

TOPPING IT OFF

It’s the final day of competition at the IFSC European Sport Climbing Championships, with the men’s boulder & lead title up for grabs.

Adam Ondra (CZE) will be chasing a second gold, and third medal overall at Königsplatz. The 29-year-old is the top-seeded athlete in the final, which sees seven more climbers looking to be crowned first-ever European champion in the new combined format.