The German team sprinters won the gold medal at the start of the European Track Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn and got off to a perfect start to the Olympic season.
Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich (all Cottbus) beat Great Britain (46.151) in the final on Wednesday evening (January 10, 2024) in 45.899 seconds. For the four-time world champions, it was the third European Championship success in a row after 2022 and 2023. The hosts Netherlands took third place (46.754).
“The European title was the first stage on the way to Paris, the Olympics are always on our minds”said Hinze after successfully defending his title. Pauline Grabosch shone in first place with a personal best time. “When we’re in the flow, it’s just fun.”said the driver, while Friedrich was already looking into the future: “Now we want to achieve a good result in the upcoming Nations Cup races in Australia and Hong Kong,” said Friedrich, who is still the defending champion in sprint and keirin at the European Championships.
Both foursomes are fighting for bronze
The German foursome will each compete for the bronze medal in the 4,000 meter team pursuit on Thursday. The women’s quartet around Olympic champion and world champion Franziska Brauße (Eningen) improved to 4:14.326 minutes in the first round, but lost to world champion Great Britain (4:12.866). In the race for third place, national coach André Korff’s foursome will face Ireland.
The German men’s foursome including returnee and ex-World Tour professional Felix Groß (Leipzig) also reached the small final after a time of 3:51.227 minutes. The opponent is Olympic champion Italy.