The team of the German Athletics Association (DLV) secured bronze on the third and final day of the European Team Championships in Chorzow, Poland. With 387.5 points after 37 competitions, the DLV selection maintained third place ahead of Spain (352.0). Gold went to Italy for the first time (426.5) ahead of hosts Poland (402.5).
“We said we would get the medal,” javelin thrower Christin Hussong announced on ZDF at the beginning of the final day. As the first DLV starter on Sunday, the 2018 European champion had recently scored important points with her best performance of the season (60.05 meters). Only the Czech Nikola Ogrodnikova (61.75) threw further. In the men’s category, Julian Weber was in the lead. The German European Javelin Champion literally surpassed the European competition with 86.26 meters.
Meanwhile, sprinter Robin Ganter jumped in for Joshua Hartmann at short notice over 200 meters, it was his second assignment at the European Team Championships after the 100-meter race on Friday. 20.89 seconds was enough for seventh place overall. “Our first candidate injured himself while warming up, he jumped in well,” said DLV sports director Jörg Bügner with satisfaction and praised the “very good atmosphere in the team”.
Desired podium finish achieved
In the high jump it was enough for the German Vice European Champion Tobias Potye with a height of 2.26 meters for fourth place. The victory went to Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi from Italy.
Germany has won the European Team Championships three times so far, in 2009 at the premiere as well as in 2014 and 2017. The fourth victory was not very realistic even before the start, but with third place the team achieved the desired podium finish. The DLV selection was also able to cope with a weak performance by team captain Alexandra Burghardt, who recently struggled with back problems and fell short of expectations in the sprint over 200 meters.
Table tennis duo in the final for Olympic qualification
The German table tennis pros Dang Qiu and Nina Mittelham are just one win away from qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. At the European Games in Kraków, both reached the final of the mixed competition on Sunday (June 25, 2023).
Dang Qiu and Nina Mittelham have reached the final at the European Games in Kraków.
The individual European champions from Borussia Düsseldorf and the runners-up at the European Championships from TTC Berlin Eastside defeated the Spanish duo Alvaro Robles/Maria Xiao in the semifinals in 3:1 sets. In table tennis there is still a men’s singles, a women’s singles and a team competition in Kraków. Only in mixed, the European Games also serve as an Olympic qualification.
Medals for German shooters
The recurve archers Michelle Kroppen and Florian Unruh meanwhile secured bronze in the small mixed final, followed a little later by archer Nadine Messerschmidt in the skeet.
For Kroppen/Unruh, who beat Macedonia 5:4, it was the second common precious metal within a year. At the home European Championship 2022 in Munich, the two had won silver in recurve mixed.
In the women’s skeet final, Messerschmidt was only beaten by Italy’s Martina Bartolomei and Greece’s Emmanouela Katzouraki.