So that’s really it. The German anthem fades away, Lisa Brennauer and Mieke Kröger just sang along at the top of their lungs. Shortly before, on the train, they were still crying in each other’s arms on this Saturday evening. Before the double victory of the two, Emma Hinze had already won her second gold medal, in the non-Olympic 500-meter time trial, in 32.668 seconds, the next German record after the qualification. And now one had actually counted on Brennauer’s second gold. But now she has a silver medal hanging from her neck. Kroeger wears gold.
It is the very last encore that Lisa Brennauer gives in track cycling. The final curtain for the exceptional athlete from Kempten, who set the best time in qualifying in the morning, well ahead of her teammate Mieke Kröger in second place. So there would be a purely German final in the evening, nothing could go wrong now, she was satisfied. Then nothing went wrong. “If anyone can beat me, it’s her,” said Brennauer about her colleague, who had faster legs and better tactics in the final.
The last few meters of her career then lead her to the Odeonsplatz in a road bike race
The day before, almost everything in the Munich exhibition center had revolved around Lisa Brennauer – which is why even the other German gold team from the first day of the final, the sprint trio around Emma Hinze, had to be patient in the mixed zone before it was the turn of the winner’s interview. The crowd on Friday was really freaking out because of her (or better: because of her team). And because of her, the helpers suddenly became hectic because the 34-year-old suddenly disappeared shortly before the upcoming award ceremony. “Where’s Lisa?” They whispered. “Lisa is missing!”
You may hear this statement more often in the future.
Lisa Brennauer will not cover the last meters of her career on this demanding wooden oval in exhibition hall C1, but on the final day of the European Championships on Munich’s Ludwigstrasse. At this European Championship, too, the woman from the Allgäu takes part in both the track and road bike races, just like her colleagues from the foursome, the goal is the Odeonsplatz. She has collected world championship titles in both categories like other people have collected shoes or postage stamps. She also recently took part in the Tour de France.
But that was it on the track. And the fact that Brennauer is the center of attention at the end says all the more about her career, since she’s not exactly the type for the limelight. Again and again on Friday during the interview after winning the team pursuit, she looks left to her colleagues, preferring to leave the microphone to them. “We’re just happy about this combination that we are,” said Mieke Kröger there, “we can play to all our strengths.” The Bielefeld woman has not yet fully realized that she should now formulate these sentences in the past tense. Because this combination will no longer exist.
Emma Hinze wins gold in the 500 meter time trial.
(Photo: Memmler/Eibner/Imago)
Franziska Brausse explained that the secret of their joint success was that the other three “could recover really well” as long as Mieke Kröger drove ahead and gave a slipstream, which is why they could still go at such high speed on the last four kilometers. That was also urgently needed on Friday, because the Italians had led three quarters of the race in the final, sometimes even clearly. Ironically, at Brennauer’s farewell, the aura of the invincible world record holders briefly faltered. The following race to catch up let the audience romp. “Incredible!”, Brennauer comments on the goosebump moment, “gigantic!” It was a “super emotional conclusion” for her with this team, she says, which will certainly retain some of its strengths even without her. As proof, Kröger got this gold on Saturday. And yet they all know exactly who is about to leave them.
Brennauer brought relaxation, fun, knowledge and experience to her team
“She is a fighter, one who holds the team together,” outlined Lisa Klein, who found it hardest to win gold after a corona infection. Someone who can be relied on, who knows an answer to every question, who also brings a bit of relaxation and fun to the group and “who shares her knowledge and experience with us”. The experience: With the road bike, Lisa Brennauer was junior world champion in the individual time trial in 2005, and in 2013 she became world champion with the team for the first time. The first European Championship title on the cycling track followed in 2018, and last year the woman from the Allgäu cleared everything: five gold medals at the European Championships, World Championships (two each) and the Olympics. Saturday’s silver in the individual pursuit is her 26th medal at World and European Championships. She will be missed.
“A shock for everyone” was Brennauer’s farewell announcement a week ago, said Kristina Vogel, the two-time Olympic champion from Erfurt, who now works as a TV expert. Maybe she just felt that this was it. On the one hand, she could go on forever, explained Lisa Brennauer herself, but she knows how hard the road is to then stand here. “I’m going to miss this,” she said, looking around. “Not so great the way there.” In any case, the farewell felt good, even if she thought with every move: “Ui, this is the last time.” The emotions then had to come out, but she leaves with two medals at a European Championship in her Bavarian homeland.
On Friday evening, the interview tour is supposedly over, her foursome wants to make room for the sprint trio around Emma Hinze, Lisa Brennauer is briefly asked about Gudrun Stock, who is now called Gudrun Frank and would have been the local hero here in Munich. She would have been seeded for the Olympic four in 2021, but then had to do without Tokyo due to health problems, underwent surgery instead of winning gold, then did not find her way back into her competitive sport and announced the end of her career with a heavy heart shortly before the European Championships 27. Lisa Brennauer stops again. “We’ve missed Gudrun since the day she couldn’t train with us,” she said. “Insanely important in our midst” was the Munich native “she was on the way up and then just had bad luck.”
You are now lucky enough to be able to independently determine the end of your career, which is not a matter of course in sport either. And she would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Gudrun Frank “for the super cool time” and the joint successes. And with that – she really goes.