Huge surprise at the marathon of the European Athletics Championships in Munich: Richard Ringer flies to the gold medal in phenomenal sprinter style on the long home straight. It is the first German medal in the marathon for 36 years.
Marathon runner Richard Ringer surprisingly secured the first German individual title at the European Athletics Championships in Munich. The 33-year-old from Rehlingen won the final sprint in 2:10:21 hours, making him the first German European marathon champion. Co-favorite Amanal Petros, who was heading for silver on the long home stretch, had to settle for fourth place in the end. Due to health problems, the 27-year-old has not competed in a race since the beginning of April.
After a clever race, Ringer had the greatest reserves in the final meters and won ahead of the Israelis Maru Teferi (2:10:23) and Gashau Ayale (2:10:29). Petros from TV Wattenscheid, on the other hand, fell back in the final sprint. The last German medal in the marathon was a long time ago: Herbert Steffny had won bronze in Stuttgart in 1986.
Miriam Dattke also just missed out on an individual medal. The 24-year-old, who is running for Regensburg, finished fourth over the 42.195 kilometers in 2:28:52 hours. Nienke Brinkman from the Netherlands at the same time secured bronze in the final sprint. However, the German women won the team classification, the men finished second behind the trio from Israel.
