Day 8 Review: Fraser Lands Fairytale Gold

Thursday’s action at the European Championships Munich 2022 saw more sports history written across the board, as Joe Fraser became the first British gymnast to win European all-around gold, Konstanze Klosterhalfen stole the show at Olympiastadion by winning her first 5000m title, Jakob Schubert topped the sport climbing events off with boulder & lead gold and much more. Read up on the highlights and relive all the action in our blog.

SMILES ALL AROUND

Gymnastics action resumed in Olympiahalle with men’s qualification which also doubled up as the all-around final. The smiles on the podium couldn’t have been any bigger, as the medallists wrote a new chapter of gymnastics history.

Joe Fraser became the first British man to win a European all-around title after a superb performance across all six apparatus to score 85.565 points. Fraser made a miracle recovery after a ruptured appendix in May and a foot fracture just four weeks ago.

“This is incredible,” Fraser said. “It’s been one real big journey. There have been so many obstacles along this journey to get here today. An appendix rupture, and then four weeks ago I fractured my foot. Today I’m still here, doing six apparatus at the European championships, which is an achievement in itself.

“I always said this will be my one big story one day,” he said. “I don’t know if I actually believed it, but I think I liked the idea of it. Actually, I made it a reality today.”

Fraser, the 2019 world champion on parallel bars, beat Turkey’s Ahmet Önder (85.131) and Adem Asil (84.465), who took their nation’s first-ever medals in the all-around.

“Today is a special day for us, a historic day for the Turkish gymnastics federation,” silver medallist Önder said. “I am so proud because last year I took the fourth place at the European championships. Now it was time to take a medal.”

Check out our full review for more reactions and highlights of Thursday’s qualification action.

CHAMPIONS’ GALLERY

CLEAN SWEEP IN WOMEN’S DOUBLES

At the European Table Tennis Championships the doubles tournaments concluded with new European champions crowned in the women’s and men’s doubles.

Bernadette Szőcs (ROU) and Sofia Polcanova (AUT) won the women’s doubles gold medal without having conceded a single set in the tournament, beating Elizabeta Samara (ROU) and Andreea Dragoman (ROU) 3-0 in the final.

"We worked hard for this goal. Each match we went in with the goal to win here,” Polcanova said.

”My dream to win a gold medal finally has come true and this medal means a lot to me because I was injured for a long time. To have a comeback like that I’m very proud of myself and of ’Berni’ (Szőcs).”

World champions Mattias Falck (SWE) and Kristian Karlsson (SWE) won the men’s doubles title, beating Robert Gardos (AUT) and Daniel Habesohn (AUT) in the finals. The two pairs had faced each other in the gold medal matches at the 2012 and 2018 European championships, both times with the Austrians coming out winning.

”We have tried for a decade now, it is 10 years since we took silver the first time so it’s obviously a fantastic feeling,” Karlsson said.

”It’s not that easy to be reigning champions in both (world and European championships). We are incredibly proud.”

Read the full table tennis review here.

“A DREAM COME TRUE”

Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen stole the show at Olympiastadion on Thursday when she came from behind to clinch the women’s 5000m title in dramatic fashion in front of a roaring and passionate home crowd.

They had come in their thousands, defying thunder and rain, to see the darling of German athletics, Malaika Mihambo, crowned once again with a long jump title.

But as Mihambo faltered in the damp air, Klosterhalfen stepped forward with a performance of sheer determination and never-say-die bravery that had the crowd on their feet screaming in support as she overhauled a seemingly unbridgeable gap to beat Turkey’s 10,000m champion Yasemin Can over the final two laps.

“The audience carried me so much,” she said afterwards. “After those two difficult years, to win a gold medal at European championships on home soil, this is just amazing. I have tears of joy. I am on cloud nine. I do not have words to describe my feelings. It is a dream come true.

“The crowd gave me everything. At the beginning of the race I stayed in the group and when Can paced very hard I let her go and stayed patient. When I got closer to her, I heard the crowd get so loud. I had so much adrenaline. I have to thank the crowd so much.”

Read the full athletics review here.

SCHUBERT HITS RIGHT NOTES

Jakob Schubert (AUT) ensured that his IFSC European Sport Climbing Championships ended in glory after he grabbed boulder & lead combined gold on Thursday.

Adam Ondra of Czech Republic won silver, to go with his lead gold and boulder bronze, while Spain’s Alberto Ginés López took home bronze, to go alongside his bronze from lead.

“I was disappointed I didn’t win a medal in lead as I won the semifinal, but then it was slightly not enough for a medal,” Schubert said. “I knew there was one discipline left and I wanted to give my all. I can go back home with a medal.”

You can find the full review here.

PACKED PROGRAMME

There were few surprises – but lots of intense racing – on the first day of canoe sprints at the European Championships Munich 2022 on Thursday.

The sport is making its first appearance at the multi-sport European Championships and the event has attracted a strong entry from across Europe, despite taking place less than two weeks after the world championships in Canada.

The form of those coming to Munich having won world medals showed. Men’s VL3 200m champion Jack Eyers (GBR) set a European best time of 48.836 seconds on his way to winning his heat, despite a poor start.

Germany’s star partnership of Sebastian Brendel and Tim Hecker headlined a strong performance by the German team. They qualified for the men’s canoe double 500m final, and Jule Hake and Paulina Paszek progressed to the women’s kayak double 500m final after a photo finish with Belgium.

"We thought about just keep pushing, keep pushing through the race. We were a little bit surprised but in the end we did a very good finish,” Hake said.

Hake also took the qualification spot in the women’s kayak single 500m, and Jacob Schopf (GER) matched her result in the men’s event. In total, seven German boats are already set for the medal races.

Read the full review here.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

Pablo Herrera (ESP) rolled back the years to reach the men’s round of 16 on Thursday, after he and Adrián Gavira defeated the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Matthew Immers 2-1 (21-16, 20-22, 15-11).

The 40-year-old Spaniard made his CEV EuroBeachVolley debut in 2004, and 18 years later he showed no sign of slowing down, with his movement and intelligent play proving too much for the Dutch pair.

Herrera and Gavira have fond memories of the CEV EuroBeachVolley. In 2013 they won gold, and they also have two bronzes in their collections, from 2009 and 2018.

“Adrián is always pushing me to keep going and the good relation between us keeps me going,” Herrera said.

You can find the full beach volleyball review here.