You can rely on the German track cycling aces: With two gold medals, the start on the wooden oval at the European Championships in Munich went brilliantly. For Lisa Brennauer, the start is particularly intense and emotional. After the title fights, the 34-year-old ended her career.
Lisa Brennauer hugged her Golden Girls and enjoyed the last joint title with a smile on the podium, then the three sprint queens Emma Hinze, Pauline Grabosch and Lea Sophie Friedrich shot around the wooden oval and made the Munich exhibition halls tremble: Driven by an "amazing atmosphere" the German track bike aces, spoiled by success, fully met the expectations and made the hoped-for dream start in the home European Championship with two titles.
First the BDR teams raced on the unusually short 200-meter course - usually the oval in title fights is 250 meters long - to gold in the team pursuit, then to victory in the team sprint. "It was a very special ending for me. It's super emotional," said Brennauer, after she had competed in the gold four from Tokyo for the last time: "I just enjoyed that we were together again being able to stand on the podium and sing the national anthem together. It was a very special moment."
She had to fight hard to win the team triumph before the end of her career. After a cautious start, the German quartet only made gains late in the duel with long-term rivals Italy. Two laps before the end, Brennauer and Co. then took the lead - and never relinquished it. "You can see that it's not a sure-fire success," said Lisa Klein.
The clock for the Olympic champions Brennauer, Klein, Franziska Brausse and Mieke Kröger stopped in the first decision of the track title fights in Munich after 4:10.872 minutes. The lead over Italy was ultimately around seven tenths of a second. Bronze went to France. The German men missed the hoped-for medal and lost to the British in the race for bronze.
For Brennauer it was the 25th medal at world and European championships. More could follow: As the defending champion on Saturday tomorrow, she is also the big favorite in the individual pursuit. In addition, the 34-year-old is still on the road.
The sprinters also freed themselves from the great pressure for the further course of the title fights. Hinze, Grabosch and Friedrich drove in 38.061 seconds in the final against the Netherlands in the coveted white jersey with the blue chest ring. For the award ceremony, the world champions took off the rainbow jersey.
"It was a great team effort. The atmosphere was amazing here, we were able to adapt well to the 200-meter track," said Grabosch on ARD. Friedrich agreed after the full-throttle race: "Everything we fought and trained for has paid off again." The trio from Poland secured bronze after beating France in the race for third place. The German men had missed the medal runs.
