Before the start of the European Championship
German handball players worried about Olympic hero
01/12/2026 – 3:33 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
There are high hopes for Renārs Uščins again at the upcoming European Handball Championships. A moment of shock overshadowed the last test. The DHB strives for optimism.
Renārs Uščins walked down the hotel stairs into the press conference room, limping slightly and still without shoes. A friendly smile and a raised thumb should mean to the journalists present: everything is fine, nothing to worry about!
One day after the 33:27 victory at the European Championship dress rehearsal against vice world champion Croatia in Hanover, the German Handball Federation (DHB) tried to give the all-clear. Uščins had twisted his ankle in the early stages of the game and initially left the field in pain. The 23-year-old later returned and was one of the best German throwers with five goals.
Even a day later, the association remains optimistic. “We can be positive for now, this morning it didn’t look any worse than yesterday and that’s a good sign,” said national team manager Benjamin Chatton at a press conference in the team hotel on Monday. Uščins will probably not be able to train, at least on Monday, or only to a very limited extent, he said. Even if an investigation is still pending, we are “initially confident” for the European Championship opener against Austria next Thursday.
Chatton did not want to confirm a report from “Sport Bild” that Uščins had suffered a strain on the ligament in his left ankle. “I haven’t heard the diagnosis in that form yet. He’s twisted his ankle,” he said. He doesn’t trust himself to “formulate something that someone from the medical department hasn’t presented to me beforehand. I haven’t received that yet and that’s why I can’t give a diagnosis at this point,” Chatton continued. “But what we can say now is that it’s not an injury that means we’re out of the tournament,” he said.
Uščins himself also tried to be confident. “Sure, you still notice a little pain, but that was to be expected,” he said. “Today we’ll see that we’ll do a bit of rehab and then we’ll just see from day to day what it looks like. But I’m confident about that.” He also announced that it was definitely not a structural injury. “We have to wait and see what the pain does. You don’t want to risk re-injury. That’s why we have to see what the stability looks like.”
After his debut in the national team in April 2023, things went uphill for Uščins at a rapid pace. At the 2024 Olympic Games he became the most valuable player for the German silver team. The six-second miracle in Lille will forever be associated with his name: Uščins saved Germany against France in extra time at the last moment and scored his 14th goal to secure an acclaimed victory.