Lea Meyer surprisingly won EM silver over 3000 m obstacle.
Lea Meyer put her hands in front of her face and sank exhausted onto the track. She got up slowly and realized what she had done. Silver in the 3000m steeplechase at the home European Championships after the run of her life, the fans in the Olympic Stadium raged. Because the medal came so unexpectedly.
“I don’t quite understand what happened here,” said Meyer: “I was simply carried here.” In the absence of defending champion Gesa Felicitas Krause, the woman from Cologne, whipped up by the frenetic Munich crowd, ran a terrific race in 9:15.35 minutes and was only beaten by the new European champion Luiza Gega (Albania/9:11.31), bronze went to her British Elizabeth Bird (9:23,18). Elena Burkard was twelfth (9:39.63).
Meyer cried with joy, got a Germany flag and was celebrated. “After the last three weeks, the final was my big goal,” said Meyer. Because: Before the EM, the student teacher had been infected with the corona virus, and there was a question mark behind her start for a long time.
At the World Championships in Eugene, Meyer became famous when she fell headlong into the water ditch in the run-up. After that, she was seen on social networks as a symbol of the crisis in German athletics. Then Corona came along.
“The last three weeks have been very stressful”
“The last three weeks have been very stressful,” she said on “Sport1”: “First with the fall in Eugene, then with Corona. It didn’t go so well.” But now Mayer could celebrate the greatest success of her career.
Krause (30) canceled her participation in the EM because of an illness. “My current state of health has a deeper medical background that cannot be solved quickly,” said the sports soldier, who had no chance of finishing last in the final at the World Championships in Eugene.
Krause had won the title in Amsterdam in 2016 and in Berlin in 2018. Also in 2014 in Zurich, the European Championship title went to Germany through Antje Möldner-Schmidt.