European Championships
Sprint relays reach EM finals
The sprint relay around Alexandra Burghardt made it to the final without the ailing Gina Lückenkemper. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The German sprint relays reached the final on Sunday evening at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.
The German sprint relays reached the final on Sunday evening at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.
The men even ran a German record over the 4×100 meters as the winners of their heat in 37.97 seconds and set the overall fastest time in the qualification. The quartet consisted of Kevin Kranz, Joshua Hartmann, Owen Ansah and Lucas Ansah-Peprah.
“Really cool, it was great fun, that was mega,” said Kranz immediately afterwards in the Olympic Stadium. The previous record of 37.99 seconds was only set by the squadron with the same line-up on June 3rd in Regensburg.
After that, the German women made it to the final without the ailing 100-meter European champion Gina Lückenkemper. Alexandra Burghardt, Lisa Mayer, Jessica-Bianca Wessolly and Rebekka Haase took second place in their heat in 43.33 seconds behind the French, who won in 43.24 seconds.
Lückenkemper was out due to a wound on her left knee, which required stitches after her victory on Tuesday evening. She had injured herself in a fall with her spikes. According to her, the decision about her participation in the season finale should not be made until Saturday. Alexandra Burghardt initially left her participation in the heat open after she entered the 200 meter final on Friday evening on Thursday evening. At the World Cup in July, the German relay surprisingly won bronze.