European Champion Gina Lückenkemper left an open start in the 4x100m relay on the final day of the European Championships at home in Munich.
“I will not compete in the relay heat,” announced the sprinter on Wednesday at the German team hotel in Munich. For a possible final two days later on Sunday, she was “in good spirits that I can be back on the track”.
Lückenkemper fell shortly after the finish line in a spectacular final on Tuesday evening and injured his left leg with his own spikes. This had to be sewn up with eight stitches late Tuesday evening.
“I’m doing well now, given the circumstances. It was a very, very exciting evening yesterday, I didn’t think it would end in the hospital. I’ve never driven an ambulance,” said Lückenkemper on Wednesday, laughing.
She still feels her wound “quite well today. The left knee is patched, the right leg is full of abrasions, it’s running,” said the 25-year-old. Whenever she wins a European Championship title, she “actually wanted to celebrate it differently”.
On Sunday, the quartet of the German Athletics Association (DLV) with Tatjana Pinto, Alexandra Burghardt, Lückenkemper and Rebekka Haase is also aiming for a European Championship medal after bronze at the World Championships. In the title fights in Eugene, the German team only had to admit defeat to the USA and Jamaica.