The final day of the European Championships once again delivered an unrivaled athletics festival in Munich’s Olympic Stadium. There were tears of joy and depression for German table tennis.
Closing ceremony: Nations Trophy goes to Germany
The closing ceremony at the Munich Olympic site turned into a really celebratory event. The entire German team from the European Championships was allowed to come onto the stage again, because there was still a trophy to be won: Team Germany received the “Nations Trophy” as the most successful team. Before that, the final day had provided some sporting highlights:
Athletics – women’s sprint relay and javelin thrower Weber triumph in Munich
As is well known, the best comes at the very end: In the very last competition of the athletics competitions in Munich, there was the longed-for coronation for the German women’s sprint relay. Alexandra Burghardt, Lisa Mayer, Gina Lückenkemper and anchor Rebekka Haase beat Poland (42.61) and Italy (42.84) in front of a roaring crowd in the Olympic Stadium in 42.34 seconds.
The co-favorite Brits with Dina Asher-Smith and the French were eliminated after a mistake in the substitution.
Before that, javelin thrower Julian Weber had fulfilled a dream: finally a medal in a big competition – and then the gold one. In the fourth attempt, Julian Weber surpassed himself on Sunday evening and threw the javelin a terrific distance of 87.66 meters. He overtook the leading Jakub Vadlejch, who had been in front with 87.28 meters.
Table tennis – Mittelham has to give up, Qiu triumphs
Joy and sorrow among the German table tennis aces on the final day of the individual competitions. There was gold for the men: Dang Qiu won his first major title in table tennis. The native of Nürtingen defeated the Slovenian Darko Jorgic 4:1 (10:12, 14:12, 11:8, 11:9, 11:2). For the 25-year-old it is the greatest success of his career.
The final advanced to a demonstration of the self-confidence climber of the year: Qiu was able to beat his opponent again and again and better in long rallies, the fist now came again and again.
While Jorgic tried everything in rounds three and four, the Slovenian’s morale was broken in the fifth round. Qiu earned eight match points and immediately converted the first.
The German table tennis ladies, on the other hand, missed out on a possible gold medal in singles in a very bitter way. In the final, Nina Mittelham had to give up after two sets against the Austrian Sofia Polcanova due to injury.
Canoe – medal rain continues
On the last day of the European Championships in Munich, Germany won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals in the canoe competitions. The German Canoe Association, which aimed for 13 medals, even won 16.
The world champions Tamas Grossmann and Martin Hiller prevailed in the kayak doubles over 1000 meters and won the next title. They celebrated a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Spain and Italy.
Paracanoeist Edina Müller had previously won gold over 200 meters in class KL1 with a European record. The Paralympic and World Champion started strong, winning by 1.595 seconds over Italy’s Eleonora de Paolis.
Artistic gymnastics – Dunkel surprisingly gets bronze on the pommel horse
What a surprise on the pommel horse! The German Nils Dunkel won the bronze medal after a strong performance with 14.633 points to the cheers of the 9000 spectators in the Olympic Hall. Armenian Harutyun Merdinyan won gold and Dutchman Loran de Munck took silver.
The 25-year-old had to tremble to the end. Because the man from Erfurt was fourth in the final and had to wait a long time for his competitors to finish. When the “6” lit up for the last starter, Artur Davtyan from Armenia, it was clear: dark wins bronze.
Dauser slips up
The Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo, Lukas Dauser, on the other hand, made a mistake on parallel bars and left the podium bitterly disappointed. “The sting is already very deep. Unfortunately, I became a little careless during the exercise. I would have liked to give this great audience a little more back,” said the 29-year-old sports soldier, visibly dejected, on ZDF.
A leg touch on the right spar, a dismount and a lunge on landing – too many mistakes to snag the coveted first international title. Horizontal bar Olympic champion Fabian Hambüchen groaned loudly on the ARD microphone when the title chance for his former gymnast from Unterhaching was gone.
Bike Road Race – Brennauer finished fourth
In an exciting street race, which was decided in the photo finish, the Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes became European Champion. Lisa Brennauer was fourth.
In the end, Lisa Brennauer was not far short of a bronze finish. In the last race of her career, she finished fourth in the road race. Gold went to the favorite Lorena Wiebes from the Netherlands, Italy’s Elisa Balsamo secured silver ahead of her compatriot Rachele Barbieri.
Beach volleyball – surprise already in the semi-finals
The Swedes David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig didn’t give their Czech rivals Ondrej Perušič / David Schweiner a chance 2-0 in the beach volleyball final of the European Championship. The two young Scandinavians caused a huge surprise in the semifinals. They defeated the superior team in beach volleyball, Mol/Sorum from Norway, and thus secured the final ticket against Perusic/Schweiner.