The road cyclists gave the German para team the first three gold medals at the European Para Championships in Rotterdam on Friday. Just eight days after his World Championship victory, Matthias Schindler also won the European Championship title in the C3 time trial. Andrea Eskau and Annika Zeyen each won gold on the handbike.
“It’s simply overwhelming what has happened in the past eight days,” said Schindler after his renewed triumph: “I stayed very focused after the World Cup, I prepared well and was able to pull off my best performance again.” There were also further medals for the two-wheeler riders Kerstin Brachtendorf and Maike Hausberger and the three-wheeler rider Angelika Dreock-Käser, who both won silver.
In addition to the successful para-cyclists, archer Flora Kliem also had reason to celebrate. With her surprising entry into the final of the Paralympics qualification tournament, the 25-year-old secured a quota place for the German para-archery sport for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
On the other hand, Friday was less pleasant for the German wheelchair basketball players, who lost to Spain 48:49 (45:45, 15:28) after extra time in the match for third place and thus just missed out on bronze.