athletics
DLV team with 114 starters to the European Championships in Rome
Defending her two European Championship titles in Rome: sprinter Gina Lückenkemper. Photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The German selection for the European Athletics Championships in Rome is complete – a large team will compete in the first highlight of the season in the Olympic year.
114 athletes form the large German Athletics team for the upcoming European Championships in Rome.
As the German association announced after the final nominations, 55 female athletes and 59 male athletes will compete in the first highlight of the Olympic year from next Friday until June 12th.
Two years after the European Championships in Munich, sprinter Gina Lückenkemper, javelin thrower Julian Weber, decathlete Niklas Kaul and Konstanze Klosterhalfen are defending their titles. Marathon European champion Richard Ringer is competing in the half marathon. Long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, who missed the World Championships in Budapest a year ago due to injury, is also among the great hopes. There was no German medal there, but the German team was the most successful at the 2022 European Championships.
Association board has hope
“In view of the good previous performances of our athletes, I am confident that we will have a say in the awarding of medals in numerous competitions,” said the association’s sports director Jörg Bügner. For the top athletes, it is “an ideal way to assess their position with a view to the Olympic Games in August. Apart from that, it is important to present ourselves as well as possible internationally,” stressed Bügner.
Two years after winning silver at the European Championships in Munich, injured high jumper Tobias Potye is absent, and Alexandra Burghardt is missing from the victorious sprint relay team. Decathlon hopeful Leo Neugebauer will compete in the US College Championships directly before the European Championships. Gesa Felicitas Krause is back in the German team after her maternity leave. The former European 3000 meter steeplechase champion has already qualified for the Olympics.