“I burst into tears,” and Emma Hinz won in a photo finish
Hat-trick: Emma Hines wins third gold at European Championships in Munich
Source: AFP/JOHN MACDOUGALL
Track bike sprinter Emma Hinz won her third European Championship title in Munich with a spirited performance. She was completely flat and had to vomit several times. Earlier there was another serious fall – Hinze won on the taped track.
Emma Hinze was already behind and the victory seemed not to be hers. In the third and decisive run of the sprint final at the European Track Cycling Championships, she again mustered all her strength and surged ahead of French Mathilde Gross. But over? The target photo should be clear and the flickering has started.
A little later it became clear: the 24-year-old from Cottbus is the new European champion in the sprint. It was her third gold at the European Championships at the Oval in the Munich Exhibition Center after winning the team sprint with Pauline Grabosch and Leah Sophie Friedrich and the 500m time trial with a German record of 32.668 seconds.
She was completely flat. “I felt really bad this morning, I threw up many times since yesterday. I actually had no energy left, I gave everything yesterday in the semifinals,” the five-time world champion said later on the ZDF microphone. “And then the third run in the final. I thought: That’s it. Then burst into tears. My whole team built me up. I can’t believe I just won.
Meanwhile, teammate Friedrich lost two runs to Lorin van Rysen of the Netherlands in the short final, thus missing out on her second medal. It was great for Maximilian Donbach, who finished third in the 1000m time trial. Only Frenchman Melvin Landerno and Italian Matteo Bianchi were faster. The German Cyclists’ Association (BDR) has already won six gold, three silver and one bronze medals before the final day of track cycling competition.
Maximilian Donbach shows off his bronze medal
Source: dpa/Sven Beyrich
Despite concerns about the sprint, Hinze managed better than many of his rivals on the 200m long and thus 50m short, temporary track. “In the time trial yes, but in the sprint and the Cairn it is difficult. Full throttle from the start, the frontrunner wins. It’s not so much to do with tactics, it’s a ramble run,” said the Cottbus native. Otherwise they wouldn’t drive like that. Even more surprising was the fact that she was behind in the third run – and still won. And on the track repaired with tape.
There’s an ugly reason for the seemingly odd thing: another serious fall has occurred. The train broke down somewhere and had to be repaired quickly.
Another bad fall
Five drivers collided in the points race of the women’s four-way Omnium. Johanna Kiti Borissa (Hungary), Emily Kay (Ireland) and Mike van der Duyn (Netherlands) soon managed to get themselves off the track, while Greeks Argyro Milaki and Hannah Sauvage from Ukraine sought treatment inside. Too long behind a screen.
The fall happened during this match
What: REUTERS
Both athletes were put on a drip before being taken out of the hall and taken to the hospital on a stretcher. At first nothing was known about the nature and severity of the injury.
The race was interrupted for first aid and repairs to the damaged track.
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