Gina Lückenkemper, Niklas Kaul and the soccer players from Eintracht Frankfurt are Germany’s athletes of the year. The winners of the 76th sports journalist election were honored on Sunday (12/18/2022) in Baden-Baden.
Lückenkemper, who won gold over 100 meters at the European Championships in Munich in 10.99 seconds and also won the title in the 4×100 meter relay, won the women’s race. She prevailed in the election of the more than 3,000 members of the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) with 1,358 points ahead of serial winner Malaika Mihambo (863). Mihambo had won in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
In the evening of August 16, Lückenkemper sprinted to gold after 100 meters and 10.99 seconds. Her bleeding knee, her tears of joy and relief – all of this will remain. “The year could not have gone better for me personally”said Lückenkemper.
Third place went to luger Natalie Geisenberger (766), who won gold in the individual and team games at the Winter Olympics in Beijing and, with a total of six victories, had become the most successful German winter Olympian.
Kaul refers Geiger to second place
The vote for men was similarly clear. European decathlon champion Kaul, who had already won the survey in 2019, relegated Vinzenz Geiger to second place with 1,256 points. The Olympic champion in Nordic combined achieved 871 points.
At the home European Championships in Munich, Kaul had been behind for a long time, but then started an impressive race to catch up – and still won gold. He could “I can’t imagine ever experiencing that again”said Kaul.
Third was Germany’s top swimmer Florian Wellbrock (761). The 25-year-old had won five medals at the World Championships, including two gold ones.
Eintracht Frankfurt voted Team of the Year
It was more exciting for the teams, where Eintracht Frankfurt was ahead of the women’s track and field sprint relay (895) with 975 points. The Hessian Bundesliga club caused a sensation in May with their triumph in the Europa League. “Not only did we trigger something in Frankfurt, we also gave goosebumps to Germany with a subscription.”said President Peter Fischer.
Third place went to the German soccer players (828), who had impressed at the European Championships in the summer and were only stopped in the final by hosts England.
Bob coach Spies and gymnastics coach Raskina also honored
In addition to the active players, the best trainers were also honored at the gala in Baden Baden. National bobsleigh coach René Spies and gymnastics trainer Julia Raskina have been honored for their successful work this year. The 49-year-old Spies and the 40-year-old Belarusian Raskina were voted coach of the year by a jury of the German Olympic Sports Confederation. While Raskina received the award on Sunday evening, Spies looked after his pilots at the World Cup in Lake Placid at the same time.
Spies had led his teams to seven medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Among them were three out of four possible gold medals. Raskina brought the rhythmic sports gymnasts from Germany to the top of the world. At the World Championships last September in Sofia, the team won a total of five medals, one even in gold. It was the biggest German success for more than 30 years.