Track cycling
German team sprinters win gold at the start of the European Championship
Holten gold at the start of the European Championship in Apeldoorn: Pauline Grabosch (lr), Emma Hinze and Lea-Sophie Friedrich. photo
© Vincent Jannink/ANP/dpa
The German team sprint women are heading into the Olympic season with a tailwind. The two German teams of four, who are hoping for a medal on Thursday, are showing rising form.
After four world championship titles in a row, Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich achieved a hat trick in the team sprint at the European Track Cycling Championships.
The successful trio from Cottbus started the title fights in Apeldoorn beat Great Britain (46.151) in the final in 45.899 seconds and were almost at their best. The hosts Netherlands took third place (46.754).
“The European title was the first stage on the way to Paris, the Olympics are always on our minds,” said Hinze after the successful defense of the title. Pauline Grabosch shone in first place with a personal best time. “When we’re in the flow, it’s just fun,” said the driver, while Friedrich was already looking to the future: “Now we want to achieve a good result in the upcoming Nations Cup races in Australia and Hong Kong,” said Friedrich, who is still the defending champion in sprint and keirin at the European Championships.
BDR foursome fight for bronze
The foursomes from the Association of German Cyclists will fight for the bronze medal in the 4000-meter team pursuit on Thursday. The women’s quartet around Olympic champion and world champion Franziska Brauße (Eningen) improved to 4:14.326 minutes in the first round, but lost to world champion Great Britain (4:12.866). In the race for third place, national coach André Korff’s foursome will face Ireland. The German men’s foursome with returnees Felix Groß (Leipzig), Nicolas Heinrich (Chemnitz), Tobias Buck-Gramcko (Göttingen) and Theo Reinhardt (Berlin) also reached the small final after a time of 3:51.227 minutes. The opponent is Olympic champion Italy.
The German team sprint men missed out on making it to the finals. Luca Spiegel (Offenbach), Nik Schröter and Maximilian Dörnbach (both Cottbus) took fifth place in 43.472 seconds. Tim Torn Teutenberg from Cologne, as defending champion, achieved sixth place in the elimination race this time. Tobias Hansen from Denmark became European champion.