Day 2 Review: Medal Joy for Hosts Germany

Eight sets of medals were awarded on the second day of the European Championships Munich 2022, with host nation Germany claiming two golds and two silvers to top the medal table. Whilst the favourites ran away with victory in most events, they were not immune to defeat in others.

GOLDS FOR GERMANY

Benjamin Thomas (FRA) ran away with two gold medals, while the German women thrived on the enthusiastic home crowd to win both the team pursuit and team sprint golds in track cycling on an action-packed Friday at Messe München which saw six medal decisions.

The spectators didn’t need a real warmup in the afternoon session, clapping and cheering loudly when Germany took on Italy in the women’s team pursuit gold medal race. The Italians went out faster and led the 4000m race all the way through until the 3600m split.

In the end Germany had just a little more stamina to edge out Italy by a 0.699s margin. Lisa Brennauer, Frankziska Brauße, Mieke Kröger and Lisa Klein were over the moon.

Klein commented: “It was not an easy route to come here, and it was not an easy competition for me either. It’s never easy, but with me it was already tough from the start. In the last kilometre I could only struggle to keep the last wheel and the girls kept accelerating. My head said that I couldn’t keep it up anymore, but we are going home with the best time of the tournament. That’s outstanding.”

In the men’s competition Benjamin Thomas stood out on Friday. The 26-year-old French rider won gold with teammates Quentin Lafargue, Valentin Tabellion and Thomas Denis in the team pursuit, before getting ready for a gruelling 40km points race to conclude the day with a second gold medal.

“It was really a great day for the French team,” Thomas said. “I approached this points race as though it was the start of the night, after the team pursuit which was very much a collective objective. We really wanted to bring home that title.”

Read the full track cycling review here.

NO(N) EXPECTATIONS

Friday’s elite women's triathlon was far from predictable, with plenty of action to entertain the crowd scattered around Olympiapark and those watching from home. The gruelling course saw Great Britain’s Non Stanford make a decisive move on the third lap of the run to break away from German home favourite Laura Lindemann and Emma Lombardi of France.

With her competitors struggling to keep the pace and catch up, the British athlete who recently competed for Wales at the Commonwealth Games, ended up reaching the finish line first to be crowned new European champion.

Much to the delight of the local fans, Lindemann managed to hold onto second place ahead of Lombardi who took bronze.

Stanford said after the race: “I can’t believe how many people came out here to watch the race! I surprised myself out there today, I came here with no expectations after competing in the Commonwealth Games recently. I’ve been pretty tired, so I haven't done much training, but I guess that means I was fresh. Delighted to come away with the gold!”

Check out the full review here.

CHAMPIONS’ GALLERY

SURPRISE CHAMPION

Czech teenager Iveta Miculyčová surprised herself and her fellow competitors with a gold medal winning performance at the women’s BMX freestyle park final, clinching her first-ever European title in the discipline. The 16-year-old only qualified for the final in seventh place following a fall during Thursday’s qualifications but rebounded in the final where the top favourites failed to live up to the expectations.

Defending champion Nikita Ducarroz (SUI) and 2020 Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington (GBR) crashed in both runs and left Olympiaberg with a disappointing fifth and eighth place, respectively. The two had previously qualified in first and second place.

Miculyčová bounced back from Thursday’s fall and managed to claim victory with a score of 80.00 points, which she had gained with her first run. It was a score that no-one was able to beat. Germany’s Kim Lea Müller (78.60) and France’s Laury Perez (78.20) completed the surprise podium at Olympiaberg in Munich.

Find out more about how the final went here.

BIRTHDAY BASH

Germany’s Alexander Megos celebrated his birthday in style by topping the leaderboard in the men’s lead qualification on the second day of sport climbing action at Königsplatz. The now 29-year-old finished ahead of Czech star Adam Ondra and fellow German Yannick Flohé. The home crowd will be hoping for a similar result in Sunday’s final.

“The first route involved a bit more climbing, and less bouldering and jumping around, like the second one, but I did ok on both routes. So, I’m happy with that,” Megos commented, adding: “The routes will change for the semifinals and final, so it is rather a case of maybe finding the right style for the routes and their setting, but qualification is about just getting through everything.”

Olympic champion Janja Garnbret (SLO) got through the women’s boulder qualification with ease, living up to the expectations. Belgium’s Chloé Caulier and France’s Oriane Bertone followed in second and third, as 20 athletes qualified for the final.

Read more on day 2 from Königsplatz here.

A-FINALS SET

The racing was hard and furious at the Olympic Regatta Centre on Friday, determining the crews who will contest Saturday’s medal races and the remaining semifinals at the European Rowing Championships.

Some crews had to overcome obstacles to make it through. The British men’s quadruple sculls crew suffered an upset early in the race when Matthew Haywood (GBR) got his blade stuck in a wave, stopping them dead. The British crew remained calm and fought back to take the third and last spot in their semifinal behind Poland and Romania.

There was also an exciting race in the second quadruple sculls semifinal, as Estonia produced the fastest second 1,000m to finish in the third qualifying spot, behind Italy and France. The crew includes 43-year-old Tõnu Endrekson (EST), competing in his 14th European Rowing Championships and looking for a sixth European medal.

The full review can be found here.

You can follow all the action from Munich 2022 and re-live all decisive moments via our live blog.