Munich 2022: a record-breaking event
Norwegian Karsten Warholm repeated his 2018 European Championships gold at Munich 2022 with a dominating performance of 47.12 s over the 400 m hurdles - smashing the old record which had been held since 1982.
The multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022 was record-breaking in many ways.
Here is a quick recap on all the amazing records that were broken at Munich 2022:
With 50 medal decisions, athletics awarded the most medals, giving chance to the most athletes to show record-breaking performances. Over the seven days of competition almost a dozen championship records were equalled or set.
The long jump Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou’s leapt to an unheard of 8.52 m setting a championship record. While Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs equalled the 100 m best of 9.95 s which Zharnel Hughes, who placed second, set at the first instalment of the European Championships in 2018.
As the 35 km race walk had its debut at Munich 2022 both winners ended up with a “CR”, though neither time will be easy to beat in upcoming years.
Meanwhile, two athletes in the men’s discus are upping one another contently. In the qualifying Kristjan Čeh threw 69.06 m but his record didn’t hold long because Mykolas Alekna won gold with a new record of 69.78 m.
On top of his double double Jacob Ingebrigsten finished the 1500m final in a record time of 3:32.76 min.
Over double the distance and including obstacles Luiza Gega of Albania pushed not only herself but also Germany’s Lea Meyer to go sub the old championship record from 2010, winning the steeplechase race in 9:11.31 min.
Even more teamwork is required when it comes to the relay. The 4x100 m team of Great Britain and Northern Ireland didn’t only make it through but crossed the finish line in 37.67 s – a feat no other team had ever succeeded in at the European championships.
Something we see even more rarely is when an event is catapulted into new heights on both the men’s and women’s side of things. Here two 400m hurdlers and pole vaulters showed us how it’s done.
After a rather devastating miss on a medal at the World Championships in Eugene due to a recent hamstring injury, Karsten Warholm came to Munich with a vengeance. The Norwegian world record holder held on to his 2018 title with a dominating performance of 47.12 s over the 400 m hurdles smashing the old record which had been upheld since 1982.
Femke Bol started her never-seen-before triple gold series with a won over the 400 metres lap, continuing with a championship record over the 400 m hurdles in 52.67 s and completed by a 4x400 m relay gold.
Surely, no one had expected for Wilma Murto to equal the championship record of 4.85 m in pole vault and win the coveted title, least of all herself. But the Finn broke her national record thrice in the competition to go toe-to-toe with Greece’s Aikaterini Stefanidi who had set the record in 2018.
On the men’s side of things, however, the question wasn’t really who was going to win but how high he would go. Armand Duplantis had upped his own world record four times already and doesn’t seem like stopping any time soon. Despite the heavy rain fall before the pole vaulters turn and the slight chill the Swede added a centimetre to his own record from 2018, winning an undisputed gold with 6.06 m.
Canoe Sprint stars
But not only the track and field athletes and race walkers delivered. In canoe sprint, too, many a European best is now dated August 2022.
Like in the va’a single VL3 200m, where the British Charlotte Henshaw finished in 57.020 s and her compatriot Jack Eyers, broke his own European best with a time of 47.214 s. Meanwhile Lillemor Köper of Germany also set a new time to beat with her best of 1:20.886 in the va’a single VL1 200m. Another phenomenal para-athlete is Laura Sugar, who ended her final with a sweet European best of 47.443 s in the women’s kayak single KL3 200 m.
Emma Wiggs broke her own European best from early 2018 in the women’s single KL2 200m with an incredible time of 47.845 s.
Both KL1 200 m bests were overwritten as well. On the women’s side Edina Müller crossed the line at 52.776 s, while Péter Kiss set the men’s record at 46.400 s.
The very last finals were the canoe single 5000 m races, and María Corbera ended the championships at the Olympic Regatta Centre with a bang as she set another record on the crystal-clear water as she finished the race in 25:46.953 min.